Request from Wild Boar Village ｜ 2024
signboard, electronic display, horn speaker

There was once an area on Mount Rokko known as "Wild Boar Village." Visitors used to feed the wild boars there, enjoying a kind of informal exchange with the animals. Over time, however, as the boars became accustomed to humans, they began to behave aggressively, and feeding was eventually prohibited. Today, signs reading “Do not feed the animals” can be found everywhere—an abundance of such requests now populates the landscape. It seems that with each community, group, place, and era, new kinds of "requests" emerge and multiply.















The artist creates work on the theme of “the relationship between animals and humans.” They have researched how these relationships take shape across Japan, in different places and eras, and have presented artworks based on those findings. For this project, the artist focuses on the wild boars that frequently appear on Mount Rokko, approaching them from multiple perspectives through interviews with hunters, hikers, local residents, and a wildlife research institute.
There was once a place on Mount Rokko known as “Wild Boar Village,” where visitors fed wild boars and enjoyed a kind of informal exchange with the animals. Over time, however, as the boars became accustomed to humans, they began to come down into town, rummage through trash, and even attack people. Feeding was eventually prohibited, and today “Do not feed the animals” signs can be found throughout Mount Rokko.
In this work, a large number of request signboards stand in rows. Announcements echo through the area, and at the center an electronic display shows people in the act of “asking.” Through these request signboards, the artist poses to viewers the shifting ways humans relate to wild boars—differences that change with era, region, and with each person or group.
(Rokko Meets Art curator: Elena Washio)







Exhibition｜Rokko Meets Art 2024 beyond
Venue｜Trail Area, Hyogo, Japan
Photo｜Kiyotoshi Takashima