Hugo Brazão

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Hugo Brazão

Cat did it!

(2021)

Cat did it! takes as its starting point the story of Koko, the gorilla who, after reportedly tearing a sink from the wall, used sign language to indicate ‘cat did it’, apparently shifting the blame onto one of her pets. Whether or not the gesture constituted deliberate deception, the anecdote opens onto questions of guilt, responsibility and the impulse to distance ourselves from the consequences of our actions.

Moving between animal behaviour, scapegoating and rituals of ablution, the exhibition considers the act of cleansing as both physical and psychological: from washing the body to ‘washing one’s hands’ of responsibility. Deception and purification emerge as parallel strategies of self-preservation — ways of negotiating discomfort, guilt and the desire to emerge clean from the mess we make.

Location

Balcony Gallery, Lisbon

Dates

2022

Materials

Mixed fabric, acrylic resin, wool, wood


Photo Credits


Reinis Lismanis

What’s for dinner? looks at dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins beyond the human body, tracing how these chemicals shape behaviour across species — from optimism in starlings and social bonding in orcas to aggression in honeybees and hibernation in brown bears. Drawing on scientific diagrams and behavioural studies, the exhibition gives visual form to these microscopic processes, unsettling the idea that emotions such as hope, attachment or anticipation belong exclusively to us.

Against a culture increasingly invested in managing mood, productivity and ‘wellness’, these biological mechanisms become a way of questioning how much control we actually exercise over how we feel. Moving between scientific research, humour and speculation, What’s for dinner? approaches the pursuit of feeling better as a recurring biological loop: anticipation, reward, satisfaction, decline — and the inevitable desire for whatever comes next.

What’s for dinner? looks at dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins beyond the human body, tracing how these chemicals shape behaviour across species — from optimism in starlings and social bonding in orcas to aggression in honeybees and hibernation in brown bears. Drawing on scientific diagrams and behavioural studies, the exhibition gives visual form to these microscopic processes, unsettling the idea that emotions such as hope, attachment or anticipation belong exclusively to us.

Against a culture increasingly invested in managing mood, productivity and ‘wellness’, these biological mechanisms become a way of questioning how much control we actually exercise over how we feel. Moving between scientific research, humour and speculation, What’s for dinner? approaches the pursuit of feeling better as a recurring biological loop: anticipation, reward, satisfaction, decline — and the inevitable desire for whatever comes next.