London - Thirteen Leeds art students yesterday led the way to a local windowless cabin where they had ingeniously recreated the Costa del Sol and provoked a national debate in Britain on art, morality, the youth of today, and wasting taxpayers' money.
The abandoned nightclub along with two bars and a private suburban swimming pool in Leeds had successfully hoodwinked six dons, 50 guests at an exhibition premiere and the media.
The students had taken literally instructions to "come up with something thought-provoking" for their third-year Fine Art degree project. Given a £1,000 grant by Leeds student union they had pretended to spend a week in the sun as an example of "performance art". One explained: "We hired a tanning bed and took turns on it, and found locations for convincing pictures."