PICKPOCKET, at the Balcony Gallery

article

DATE

14 Jan 2026

AUTHOR

Tomás Saraiva

PICKPOCKET, at the Balcony Gallery

AUTHOR

Tomás Saraiva

For its last exhibition of 2025, Galeria Balcony presents the collective exhibition PICKPOCKET, dealing “transparently”, in analogy and reference to the characters of the art world-system, with the organic nature of art, while also not forgetting the mechanical workings behind its functioning. A biocoenosis, this scenario, where they communicate and, above all, expose themselves, with subtle humor. An approach, if you will, to a refined satire where we are all protagonists and which provokes an almost imperceptible smile, as if to say oh, me! across the two floors of a space that, sooner or later, ends up becoming a playground to cops and robbers.

I couldn't enter the gallery without my hands deep in my pockets to protect myself from some kind of fear, despite the stealthiness that Balcony itself exudes, marked by an unusual red color... Then, I come across a Collector¹who stands firmly and stiffly in front of me, in his usual gloom and surrounded by his most prized acquisitions, looking at me as if I owed him something, as if I had committed a crime!

“Am I right to be here?” - I ask myself.

I move forward, albeit with one eye on our mysterious friend. These are my first steps in an eyebrow-raising exhibition, torn between trust and distrust of each character I encounter there, the discreet clues—journalistic leads!² -, but not left to chance, creatures that believe themselves to be true in attempts at enticement³… The room shares the outside cold air, the bright, distant white of the divine gallery follows my every move—no world escapes Orwellian feelings—waiting for an open pocket, and something tells me that this world is not a bed of roses, but here we remain, in radical perseverance. In this, a half-open door guarded by a genie in a lamp tells me that I am happy⁴. However, not allowing myself to be fooled, I felt cautious and somewhat fearful: I peeked inside. It was just the gallery's pantry, but that didn't stop this apparent Cluedo game's mystery from fading away. After all, you never know if that wasn't where the secret to unraveling all this lay.

Amid this controlled chaos ecosystem, you can never have too much protection. Tiago Alexandre's large helmet⁵ reflects my silhouette against the visor, blending it with the Casino Lisboa signs. The dizzying eagerness of contemporary life! Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and what this old maxim brings us, the speed of the desire for omnipresence, is confused with victory and, whether we like it or not, there is no protective clothing that can withstand it... In fact, it is worth noting that a naked man fears no pickpocket! Above all, we must remain protected and take slow and cautious steps. I follow my keen survival instincts, even in relation to the smiling faces that appear along the way⁶—there it is, the raising of the eyebrow—and I go down to the floor below. As I descend, a sound resembling a tennis match⁷ takes over the space, and when its source is discovered, a series of amateur videos of people opening champagne bottles with knives is revealed. The so-called sabrage. I could imagine myself at a well-stocked opening, somewhere in this artistic sphere, in those moments that, most of the time, bring us together and make us find and generate new ideas, comforting us in the bohemianism that art also is and that leads us to embrace each other.

At last, I leave, no longer with my hands in my pockets, and that's when the mystery ceases to be a mystery. The red paint on the gallery window... We went in and out, and it all happened very quickly. In the end, it was all just gallery pickpocketing⁸! The question of what I am there hangs in the air. Am I a passing visitor? A witness? An accomplice? Am I myself, as a spectator of these contexts, a place of loss...? These are the questions that remain unanswered in what is, besides an idea of a collective portrait, a kind of lesson, or teaching. An exhibition referring to its own context, presented in a cheerful tone by the Balcony Gallery in its main space. From artists to collectors, from the most interested to the most disinterested gaze, through the galleries that unite them and become the natural habitat of this ecosystem where anything and everything can happen, we live in times where irony reigns.

Curated by Tiago Alexandre and featuring works by Carolina Serrano, Dealmeida Esilva, Hugo Brazão, Laura Caetano, Mané Pacheco, Nikolai Nekh, Nuno Nunes-Ferreira, Pedro Henriques, Pedro O Novo, Sara & André, and Tiago Alexandre, PICKPOCKET is on display at the Balcony Gallery until February 7.

¹O Colecionador #9, 2021, by SARA & ANDRÉ. ² Queen, 2021, by Nuno Nunes-Ferreira. ³ Algodão sintético, 2025, by Mané Pacheco. ⁴You are happy, 2025, by Tiago Alexandre. ⁵Canto do cisne, 2022. ⁶Pareidolia 2, 2025, by Pedro Henriques. ⁷TENNIS / MATCH, 2018, by Nuno Nunes Ferreira. ⁸ The red spray paint covering the gallery window and marking the names of artists participating in the exhibition refers to the technique used to identify pickpockets on the street, making it easier to avoid them.

BIOGRAPHY

Tomás Saraiva (b. 2002) has a degree in Art and Heritage Sciences from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon and is studying for a master's degree in Curatorial Studies at the College of Arts of the University of Coimbra. Between painting and curating, he combines the artistic thinking he has been developing with his curatorial values, either solo or as a group. She has held and participated in several exhibitions at national and international level.

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