Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the relations of history against tensions between past and present, colony and country. It examines how the triangulation of imperial directives, modernist aesthetics and fascism yielded a pioneering architecture in colonial Asmara. The book confronts the limits of colonialism in the production of modern architecture in the Italian overseas territories. An interrogation of the colonial exposition reveals an overt mimicking of the colonial interior. At nearly 26 colonial expositions held in Italy, the hyperbolic representation of the colony began and ended at the temporary pavilion of the colonial exposition. The book illustrates how Asmara was considered a space of collection and it defines the interior as being a space that simultaneously mediated authoritarian rule while also allowing for individuals to construct an in-visible city of their own.