Working Conditions by Alina Lupu is a two-part public programme on class, labour and culture, accompanied by a temporary library, parallel to the exhibition Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie 2026: Class Hegemony in Contemporary Art. What do we do with an eight-hour day when we are not working for a wage? And what happens when we have to?

Throughout this eight-hour collective work session around class, labour and the arts, invited artists, cultural workers, organisers and labourers from other fields will join an open, walk-in gathering where everyone is welcome to participate. There is no stage and no fixed distinction between speakers and audience: conversations happen while cutting, painting and stitching a large banner, screen-printing T-shirts, drinking coffee, taking breaks, or simply spending time together.

No war but class war is proposed as the banner’s starting point, but nothing is fixed. Across eight hours, the phrase can be debated, altered, rejected, or replaced. By the end of the day, a collectively determined statement will be turned into a banner which will be visible for the remainder of the exhibition.

Over a period of nearly five years, Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie interrogated how class structures shape the production, presentation and reception of contemporary art. Initiated in 2006, the project asked complex, unresolved questions, such as: How does class impact who becomes an artist or curator? Can contemporary art itself be seen as a privilege of the middle classes? Twenty years on, we return to these questions and ask why class continues to be so easily overlooked in the production and presentation of art—even at a time when matters of political equality are far more prevalent than before.

Alongside the public programme, a temporary Class Library brings together materials from two sources: Alina Lupu’s ongoing Art Workers Library, and a selection of publications sourced from the bookshop San Serriffe. Rather than proposing a comprehensive bibliography on class, the Class Library is conceived as a small, temporary working collection. Available to consult on site during the programme, it invites visitors to browse, read, (dis)agree with and make connections between its materials, extending the programme through potential collective and individual reading.