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I am a Spark of Multiple Existences!
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My performative, site-specific approaching to the area of Žakalj has been going on since 2018, when I first arrived at this location. My grandgrandgrandfather was one of hundreds of workers who passed through the large plant of the Žakalj mill.
I had no idea about it until 2024.
I had no idea about it until 2024.
The first mill in Žakalj was built in 1841, following the latest American and Belgian technology. It had 18 stone wheels. With the enormous quantities of wheat that they produced, the Hungarians pushed the milling industry wherever there was an opportunity. Their grain, and not only theirs, was transported by sea and by boat up the river Rječina (Ričina or Rečina) to Žakalj gorge and the newly built mill. The mill burned down in 1862, and three years later a magnificent six-story building was built, 90 meters long and 25 meters wide. It was owned by the company Stabilimento commerciale di farine di Fiume. It operated until the end of 19th century. This was also the time when one of the most dangerous parts of the road Lujzijana above the Ričina river canyon was built. Austro-Hungarians penetrated the first roads through the karstic landscapes of today’s Croatia.
They managed to construct a path down the wet, steep and rocky rocks of the deep Ričina ravine, below which this wild karstic river once regularly roared.
It was exactly the river that gave the harbour city of Rijeka (Fiume) its name. The river flows into the heart of the town and from cultural and historical point of view it created the city of Rijeka (Fiume). The city carries the river’s name: in Croatian, word rijeka stands for river, even in contemporary language usage.
But the contemporary times have brought destruction to the river, and currently Ričina is under a life threat of a new dam. Only on rare occasions do we see her and hear the untamed waters flowing through the gorge Žakalj.
Geologically, Žakalj is a strait, narrowing and small gorge, creating double waterfall during high waters. At this very location, the river flows through a natural limestone gorge, a geological phenomenon of the Ričina stroke. Immediately before the narrowing, in the mid-19th century, two tall mill buildings were built there: the Matešić's Mill and the Žakalj Mill, which have existed as ruins for 120 years. Completely overgrown with ivy which holds these astonishing architectures aloft, these ruins, together with the surrounding area have long since transformed into a fantastic wild flora and fauna that seduces with its labyrinthine silence and mystery.
It was exactly the river that gave the harbour city of Rijeka (Fiume) its name. The river flows into the heart of the town and from cultural and historical point of view it created the city of Rijeka (Fiume). The city carries the river’s name: in Croatian, word rijeka stands for river, even in contemporary language usage.
But the contemporary times have brought destruction to the river, and currently Ričina is under a life threat of a new dam. Only on rare occasions do we see her and hear the untamed waters flowing through the gorge Žakalj.
Geologically, Žakalj is a strait, narrowing and small gorge, creating double waterfall during high waters. At this very location, the river flows through a natural limestone gorge, a geological phenomenon of the Ričina stroke. Immediately before the narrowing, in the mid-19th century, two tall mill buildings were built there: the Matešić's Mill and the Žakalj Mill, which have existed as ruins for 120 years. Completely overgrown with ivy which holds these astonishing architectures aloft, these ruins, together with the surrounding area have long since transformed into a fantastic wild flora and fauna that seduces with its labyrinthine silence and mystery.
Its life and habitat is one separate life from the everyday life and from regular history. The humming of insects and the silky moss invite into a fairy tale that holds a true multiple reality. These multiple existences are intertwined by roots into an evergreen, the individual subconscious and the collective unconscious.
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As in all the spaces that resemble fairy tales, everything here dwells in wonder. This is a world of mysterious and astonishing beauty with the terrible flickers unattainable in words, sparks and flashes in the water appearing in the attempts of human understanding. Žakalj is an echoing reality of the extreme, labyrinthine and wonder; the multiple existence that is dripping with humidity and sadness rooted in the long absence of its river.
After hearing a sound from an old Viennese accordion and in a shifted key, audience enters the room, passing by one of the former 18 stone wheels, all overgrown with moss. Inside, a performer awaits them, in whose open palms are placed round black pebbles (črni kamik) from Ričina. With an absent-minded look, she recites verses in Hungarian, songs about love deeper than a river, love as good as bread. With the movements of her body, the performer transforms into a storyteller of elven madness who, in leaps and bounds, recounts the approximate history of the mill. The elf does not know how to play the accordion and extracts from it the sounds of a possible history.
Although it is not part of the performance, the loud roar of the water and its force as the river flows in its fullness, turns all its drops into joy, followed by the bird's chirping ecstasy!
This is how it looks and sounds when the water rejoices, when the being of the river appears! It awakens with a wild flow at the visible side of reality.
The waterfall and rapids giggle so loudly, with such vital force that the river's happy foam comes out of its nose and mouth, all from the simple infinity of laughter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This space took me somewhere I have never been and have never wanted to go.
I fainted in my own subconscious; entered it through the living strait of Žakalj and the pain of the river for being physically thrown out of its riverbed. I slipped on the rocks in the canyon in the empty riverbed and fell into a hole between metaphysical worlds, similar to Alice's, only without the rabbit. The return journey took about two full (earthly) years, as did my physical recovery from the injury. Halfway through this rough and mystical experience, the poetic performance emerged which I prepared for The Krasopis Festival - Festival of Research, Support and Protection of Karst Landscapes, in October 2024.
Photography: Gordan Godec, Slavko Polak, Iva Korbar, Jan Meneghello
This is how it looks and sounds when the water rejoices, when the being of the river appears! It awakens with a wild flow at the visible side of reality.
The waterfall and rapids giggle so loudly, with such vital force that the river's happy foam comes out of its nose and mouth, all from the simple infinity of laughter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This space took me somewhere I have never been and have never wanted to go.
I fainted in my own subconscious; entered it through the living strait of Žakalj and the pain of the river for being physically thrown out of its riverbed. I slipped on the rocks in the canyon in the empty riverbed and fell into a hole between metaphysical worlds, similar to Alice's, only without the rabbit. The return journey took about two full (earthly) years, as did my physical recovery from the injury. Halfway through this rough and mystical experience, the poetic performance emerged which I prepared for The Krasopis Festival - Festival of Research, Support and Protection of Karst Landscapes, in October 2024.
Photography: Gordan Godec, Slavko Polak, Iva Korbar, Jan Meneghello
