Leeds City Square: Pictures show 'sculptural forest' being dismantled marking end of Leeds 2023

Making A Stand, a seven-metre tall sculpture inspired by the forest of Leodis, took root in City Square last June.

Created by acclaimed visual artist Michael Pinsky and award-winning environmental architects Studio Bark, the 127 seven-metre-high timber fins were designed to draw attention to the need to replace carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel with more sustainable alternatives such as timber.

It also served to demonstrate that large-scale, temporary art can also be created in a sustainable way.

Making A Stand was one of 12 signature projects commissioned as part of LEEDS 2023 and the forest was designed to be stripped down when the Year of Culture ended. Its timber fins, which were felled from sustainable forests in the country, are to be repurposed.

The sculptural forest is currently boarded up with temporary fencing as the sculpture is taken apart carefully.

Its unveiling was followed with much criticism online with many Leeds residents thinking the sculpture did not suit or complement its surroundings. The sculpture was adjacent to Restaurant Bar and Grill and faced The Queens Hotel.

Other people believed it to be a great addition to the city centre – especially when it was coupled with activities such as yoga, poetry and music.