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LAKWENA MACIVER

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Half Moon Bay

Anna Gillespie

March 2019

As part of the Morecambe Bay Coastal Commissioning Programme, Deco Publique and theCOLAB are proud to present ‘HA HA HAPPY’ an expansive and immersive new permanent public art work by renowned artist Lakwena Maciver for the basketball courts at Happy Mount Park in Morecambe. Lakwena’s work covers a vast 1,000 sqm including a floorscape of rows and rows of technicolour ‘ha ha’s, the onomatopoeic representation of laughter. The repurposed technicolour interlocking basketball floor tiles meet the words ‘HAPPY’ rising up on boards around the perimeter. Echoing Maya Angelou’s “Just as hope rings through laughter…’, the work explores the importance of laughter in establishing social bonds, its contagious quality leading to happiness - a fundamental sign of openness, safety and humanity. 

HA HA HAPPY coalesces Lakwena’s work relating to basketball courts, the rural landscape and large-scale urban interventions. The artist is internationally renowned for her work in public spaces across the world, from installations at the Artist’s Garden, Tate Britain, Somerset House, to a juvenile detention centre in Arkansas, a monastery in Vienna and the Bowery Wall in New York City.  

“The name Happy Mount was what drew me to this project. When I heard it, it made me think of heaven, and I wonder if that’s what the people who named it were thinking of too. Either way I’m so grateful for the many beautiful parks including this one that are part of our shared heritage, and I’m very grateful to have been invited to create an artwork for this one. I hope it brings people together, I hope people have fun playing here, and I hope it adds to this little glimpse of heaven here on Happy Mount.” Lakwena Maciver

Opened in 1927 as a public park, Happy Mount Park was created during Morecambe’s growth as a popular seaside resort, its character drawing on the tradition of late Victorian and Edwardian municipal parks. The park takes its name from the area at the eastern end of Morecambe’s promenade known as Happy Mount, a naturally elevated point that offered sweeping views across the vast sands of Morecambe Bay towards the Lakeland fells. These uplifting vistas continue to delight visitors today, connecting generations with the beauty of the renowned Bay.

Today, Happy Mount Park is a place where memories are made by thousands of local families, day-trippers and holidaymakers. Visitors come to explore everything the park has to offer, from the much-loved miniature train to a range of spaces designed for intergenerational play and enjoyment. Entranced by the innate joyfulness of both name and place, Lakwena was inspired to encapsulate the happiness of our experiences past and present in civic parks. Her intervention HA HA HAPPY is a bold technicolour public art work that signals a creative leap forward for this treasured open-air space. 

SHIP has been warmly received by regular walkers and visitors to Half Moon Bay, with audiences responding to the personal significance of the two figures and the boat, positioned amid the ever changing seascape of the Bay, its weather and its tides.

Her intensely coloured, geometric forms for the basketball court at Happy Mount Park create an expansive and immersive floorscape over which the public is invited to come together, play and laugh. Absorbing the energising palette of the floorscapes and the positive messaging of laughter across the floor, visitors will play basketball, netball and football on the fully functioning courts. Leaping from HA to HA, visitors are embraced by the word HAPPY punctuated by upward surging rays towards the goals. 

HA HA HAPPY is a utopian, joyful intervention into public space with the serious intent of contemplating connection, commonality and the liberating power of laughter.

Elena Jackson of Deco Publique says, “We’re delighted to present Lakwena’s work in Morecambe, where the scale and atmosphere of the Bay continues to inspire artists. Through the Coastal Commissioning Programme, we’ve invited artists to spend time with the Bay, to respond to its social, environmental and cultural landscape, and to create work that is both locally rooted and internationally resonant. Lakwena’s HA HA HAPPY is a joyful, generous expression of that dialogue, attuned to the social life of public space.

This project has been shaped by strong collaboration with theCOLAB, Lancaster City Council and partners, creating a new landmark that brings people together through play, colour and shared experience. First presented in London, the work now has a permanent home in Morecambe, reflecting a shared commitment to environmentally responsible commissioning. It follows works presented in the Bay over the last 12 months by artists Daisy Collingridge, Elizabeth Clough and Jen Southern. We thank our funders, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, for making Lakwena’s work possible.” 

Claire Mander of theCOLAB says, “HA HA HAPPY is a joyful collaboration of epic proportions, which characterises the collaboration between theCOLAB and Deco Publique to realise Coastal Commissions for Morecambe Bay. Lakwena has, once again, reinvigorated an expanse of public space which focuses on the importance of laughing, loudly, in the open air, together.  The creation of this new permanent landmark for Morecambe attests to the generosity of our partners across the country enabling the transposition of materials from her commission at the Artist’s Garden, London in 2021 to Happy Mount Park in Morecambe in 2026.’ 

Councillor Martin Bottoms, Cabinet Member for Morecambe Regeneration and Local Economy, says, “Happy Mount Park is a much‑loved community space where people come together to relax, play and spend time with family and friends. This new addition builds on that heritage, offering something that will spark curiosity and conversation for everyone who visits.”

Basketball England says, “We're excited about the launch of the 'HA HA HAPPY' art court in Morecambe - the first of 2026 and just in time for the outdoor basketball season.  The unique project saw a wealth of partners come together to realise Lakwena Maciver's vision, transforming a tired public basketball court into a piece of art set in an iconic community park. Basketball England has supported the project with technical guidance throughout and funding the upgrades to the basketball equipment, because we know that renovated courts become safe spaces for people of all ages to enjoy basketball, bond and be fit and active. Through our court regeneration campaign - #ProjectSwish - we continue to work with councils, clubs, artists, funders, individuals and commercial organisations to invest and upgrade in outdoor basketball courts across England.”

SHIP Gallery

Photography - Robin Zahler

CLICK TO VIEW PROGRAMME COMMISSIONS

Emily Hennessey, Made by the Moon

Jenny Reeves and Ellen Jeffrey, Longways / Crosswise

Rob Mullholland, Settlement

Chris Drury, Horizon Line Chamber

The Headlands to Headspace Landscape Art Commissioning Programme was a series of five artworks commissioned by Morecambe Bay Partnership, co-produced and co-curated by Deco Publique and funded by the Heritage Fund. The temporary and permanent artworks were located around Morecambe Bay’s stunning 90 mile coastline to engage residents and visitors with the natural and cultural heritage of the Bay and the spectacular landscape, coast and wildlife. 

Morecambe Bay Partnership is a charity that celebrates and conserves; connects and collaborates. From birds to beach cleans, from cycle ways to the history that shaped the Bay, they work in collaboration with the community and other partners to deliver projects with real impact.

Deco Publique has collaborated with Morecambe Bay Partnership for a number of years with a shared vision of expanding the profile and legacy of the Bay’s heritage, landscape and culture. During the Headlands to Headspace programme, we worked together closely to navigate the complex challenges of citing artistic work in the land. Our particular thanks to Susannah Bleakley and Jan Shorrock for the collaborative and positive approach to working together to realise such ambitious, dynamic outcomes.

Our two organisations are now collaborating on a new piece of research made possible with Arts Council funding secured by Deco Publique to look at future arts and landscape commissioning around Morecambe Bay.