In these exhibitions, architecture’s tectonic side was inserted into the scenographic – an increasingly common strategy today, as more and more of the exterior is interiorized in glassed-over immunizing islands (Sloterdijk 2005, 2009). Our paper explores some instances in which houses were exhibited within the European imperial region. Motivations, restrictions and desires find their way into colonial and postcolonial relationships of exchange from all sides, and they need to be given equal attention. Jacob’s (1996) account, cited in the call for papers, certainly expands colonized peoples’ repertoire of available attitudes – yet it still remains reactive. If conceptual “Europe” still dominates the world (Dietze 2008), its provincialization decentralises origins of knowledge and responsibilities (Charkrabarty 2008).
Historical connections, however, seem all but forgotten in Europe – who would think of Samoa as lying within Europe’s extended boundaries? This forgetfulness might even explain some short-fallings in architectural theories of region, with their moral distinctions and oppositional schemes that would seem oddly out of place not only in Apia. There is a dynamic awareness of many encounters with Europeans in Samoa today not only are German and English genealogical links recognisable in many surnames, but a good share of tourists come from Europe to enjoy what might be called regional nostalgia. The tension between local and global contexts and customs shaped conception, production and reception in all cases. The fale exhibited in 2005 at the Tropical Islands Resort in Brandt (60km southeast of Berlin), next to five other indigenous houses from tropical regions shares some important features with its predecessors – despite obvious differences. Accordingly, a Samoan fale (house) was presented at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Park and, in 1940, at the Centennial Exhibition in Wellington. Thirteen years later, New Zealand (a member of the Commonwealth) took control of Samoa. Amongst them, they settled their imperial rivalries by contract in 1899: Western Samoans became German compatriots and were thus presented in 1901 at exhibitions in Frankfurt and Berlin.
British, German and American traders, bureaucrats and military, rubbed shoulders in Apia, Samoa as the nineteenth century came to a close.
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