Slovenia inaugurated its pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture two days ahead of the official opening of the 19th iteration of the iconic festival. Themed Master Builders, the country's presentation highlights the importance of builders and their skills.

Curated by Ana Kosi and Ognen Arsov, the spatial installation in the Slovenian pavilion at the Arsenale features four totems representing a family of master craftsmen.

Each totem is influenced by characteristics of specific masters, but they are not only representations of specific individuals but monuments to mastery that transcend the individual and are left open to new stories, interpretations and associations.

The pavilion also features a documentary video tracing the construction of the totems, which took place on an actual construction site. They were built by masters themselves.

Addressing the launch on 8 May, Culture Minister Asta Vrečko said the curators worked with a topic that often seemed invisible but was very topical at a time spanning between fascination with AI and AI becoming irreplaceable, in architecture and other aspects of life.

The pavilion focuses on the question of who is building the world around us and how, with Vrečko saying the world was being built by humans with the help of machines, yet people still needed to work in adequate conditions and receive appropriate pay.

The presentation at the Arsenal venue is accompanied by a catalogue and a symposium about architectural production in Slovenia, which will be hosted by the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in November.

Dedicated to the relationship between the architect and master builder in the historical and contemporary context, the catalogue traces the process of building the Slovenian pavilion.

Picking on the biennale's theme Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective, the Slovenian presentation calls for cooperation among a variety of aspects to resolve problems, above all the climate crisis, which is greatly affected by the construction sector, said MAO director Maja Vardjan, the commissioner for the Slovenian pavilion.

Curator Kosi said the theme of this year's pavilion was inspired by their real-life experiences and observations.

Architecture comes to life on construction sites, which are rough, noisy and grimy places - a stark contrast to the etheric aura attributed to architectural achievements, she said, concerned that architects are putting more and more distance between themselves and the active monitoring of construction, thereby distancing themselves from the essence of their profession.

Construction heavily depends on builders and their know-how, an analysis involving Slovenian construction sites indicates, but there is currently a shortage of master builders, who are an essential part of the process.

The industry would like to tackle staff shortages through digitisation and robotisation, but the human element is important, Kosi added at the presentation of the project in Ljubljana on 5 May.