Drifting through Cityscapes Drifting through Cityscapes MTL final copy | Page 30

ISABEL WOCIAL
»Protest March«, Leeds, 1967
The image I have chosen, is of a student protest in
Leeds in 1967. The protest was in fact a performance
art in response to the growth of student protests
across the world, sometimes international issues such
as the Vietnam war or »Ban the bomb« but also more
parochial or prosaic issues. The students were using
humour in their art to satirise the student protest but
at the same time presenting performance art and
happenings as a legitimate art form to be rec-
ognised by their college. This act was part of a move-
ment to broaden the curriculum within Leeds Col-
lege of Art. The impact of this movement has
transformed the college to what Leeds Art University
is today. One could question that without this revlu-
tion.
»For the Love of God,« Damien Hirst, 2007
Leeds Art University may not have produced con-
temporary artists that are contributing to shaping the
art world today, including the alumni student Damien
Hirst and performance and installation artist Georgi-
na Starr. The second image is Damien Hirst’s, »For the
love of God« (2007). Created 40 years after the ‘Pro-
test march’. The work consists of 8.601 diamonds en-
crusting a platinum cast of a human skull. This piece
of work costs £28 million of Hirst’s money and the
work sold for £100 million. This piece of art work chal-
lenges the concept between art and value within
the art market and capitalist society.