Looking for Mumbaki in the Metropolis: Market and Maker in Art Fair Philippines and ALT ART

27Feb2026

When I saw Thai artist Pitchapa Wangprasertkul’s durational performance The Standard (2022, 2026), I felt a visceral sense of recognition. Encased in a transparent glass box for eight hours a day, the length of a standard workday, the artist-employee performs the actual tasks of a full-time worker. With her legs cramped and feet braced against the glass, she was working on a graphic design project when I visited on February 6, 2026. The sight triggered memories from over a decade ago when I was a young gallery assistant. I recalled the relentless cycle of updating object lists, writing captions, installing works, and managing the temperaments of artists and collectors, all while pushing for a sale. Wangprasertkul’s performance highlights how societal “standards” like the eight-hour workday function as ideological tools. They condition us to accept suppressive environments as “normal” or “fair.” While collectors circulate to consume art as a luxury, Wangprasertkul, along with many art writers, cultural workers, and artists, remains “on the clock” inside a box. The fair is really a site of mundane, corporate labor. It is a fitting critique for its new venue at One Ayala, where corporate offices had been transformed into white cubes.

Words Lex Balaguer
Images Patrick Kasingsing and Lex Balaguer (Art Fair Philippines and ALT ART)