Crazy as a peach-coloured boar

Crazy as a peach-coloured boar

Meet the wild boars, the main characters of an ambient campaign promoting Jakub Szczęsny's exhibition at the Museum of the City of Gdynia. Over the course of two weeks, three orange individuals appeared in various public spaces. They could be spotted, among other places, at the train station, in the skate park, relaxing on the beach. They participated in the Film Festival, visited an exhibition, one of them read Joseph Rykwert's "The Seduction of Place," while another took the place of a kiosk vendor. The wild boars - the truly wild ones - have become a part of Gdynia’s landscape and identity. When we see them in the city, we can imagine them having human objectives: wild boars waiting for a bus at the stop, digging in front of a school as if they want to learn. We decided to draw attention to our wild boars using bright colors, referring to the exhibition's visual identity. However, in this game of associations, the campaign is hinting at a more serious problem: What is the fate of wild boars? Why do they appear in the city? Is there something we, as residents, can do for them? The orange boars’ unlikely presence is echoing a question that Szczęsny asks in his works: Do we, humans, really need more space?

You can find photographic documentation and a description of the project at www.dzikidzik.info

Concept and creative direction: Aleksandra Godlewska
Photography: Michał Algebra / Rafał Kołsut