Master Builders

The Slovenian pavilion turns the spotlight on craftsmanship and the skills and techniques related to it as an essential and irreplaceable part of architectural production.

The development of artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and robotization in construction, paired with the tendency toward uniformity and prefabrication of construction elements, is geared towards eliminating the unpredictable human factor from the construction process. On the other hand, this development has laid bare the shortcomings of mechanization and revealed the valuable knowledge inherent in the practices and professions whose reputations have previously remained limited to physical labor and handiwork. The current situation in the construction industry in Slovenia and Europe in general clearly bears that out, demonstrating that the quality and development of the built environment still largely depends on the expertise of craftspeople on the construction site. It is the craftspeople who have the expertise to do something well; they have the type of skills required to translate a plan into quality architecture, skills that are indispensable for a plan to materialize as an object.

The authors of the pavilion spotlight the expertise of master craftspeople as the key intelligence factor in the construction process, seeking on the one hand to demonstrate the important relationship between architectural design and craftsmanship on the construction site, and on the other to reconsider artisanal techniques and building skills in view of the increasingly digitalized architectural design we see today.

The Slovenian pavilion puts on show a series of totems constructed and realized as a physical manifesto of craftspeople’s knowledge and skills. Totems – spirit beings, objects, or symbols – serve as an emblem of a group or clan of master craftspeople, but they are also masters themselves: not only because they represent craftspeople or because they serve as their images, but because they “know more” – more than we who look at them, those who made them, and those who constructed them.

Totems are the end product of an experimental process through which the authors explore the architect – craftsperson – architecture relationship. Their concept is the result of standard methods and tools used in architectural planning. The design of individual elements draws on the techniques of making and construction that can be seen on a modern-day construction site in Slovenia today. The making took place over a month on a specially designated section of a construction site in Ljubljana. The totems were made based on the submitted plans, the inventory, and the technical report. Throughout the process, the architects communicated with the craftspeople on the site. The pavilion displays the results of this process and the video that documents it. The finished totems were brought to Venice and placed in the Slovenian pavilion. Their position responds to the space while forging mutual relationships and interactions between them.

Pavilion venue

Arsenale della Biennale di Venezia

Campo della Tana, 2169f

Venice, Italy

Credits

Commissioner: Maja Vardjan

Curators: Ana Kosi and Ognen Arsov

Assistant to the commissioner: Nikola Pongrac

Assistant Curators: Blaž Šenica and Žiga Rošer

Graphic Design: Studio Nejc Prah

Photography: Klemen Ilovar

Video: Rok Kajzer Nagode

Press contact

Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO)

Rusjanov trg 7

SI—1000 Ljubljana

Slovenia

www.mao.si

Manca Košir

press.bio@mao.si

Production: MAO, Museum of Architecture and Design