A far more humane form of foxhunting took place recently in London, England, with the general public being tasked with finding hidden ceramic foxes. Hanna-Kaarina-Heikkilä of Finland is the designer behind the idea, with the project being titled ‘Wild in the City’, which was part of the recent London Design Festival. The idea of the project is to reshape people’s perceptions about the urban environments of cities such as London. This type of foxhunting is very fun, with 060 hidden foxes scatted throughout the city by Heikkilä, who then posts clues of their whereabouts via her Instagram account. Anyone lucky enough to find one gets to keep the little fox models. Fox hunting is also a strongly divisive subject, mostly between the middle-class who enjoy the traditional sport of hunting the animal and those of a working class background who feel the ‘sport’ is nothing but barbaric torture of a helpless creature. Not just that, but foxes found around London are usually deemed as pests, which is something that Heikkilä wants to challenge. In her own words, she wants to “wake up and surprise people in their everyday environment and [make them] consider the interaction between art, man and animals in their shared urban environment.” She plans on taking the project on tour, with plans to hide other hidden creatures in various cities of the world, including projects in Japan as well as LA.
Hanna-Kaarina Heikkilä: Website | Instagram
Wild in the City: Instagram via: [Inhabitat]
