In the contemplative halls of the art world, inviting laughter in response to carefully created paintings is risky, but this is exactly what London-based artist Lakwena Maciver does in her new exhibition. A soundtrack of chuckles that ranges from thundering choruses to tinkling solos can be heard throughout the space. One of the display’s is a wall of multicoloured, fluorescent paint that repeats the phrase “ha ha” 54 times. Even the title of the exhibition is in on the joke.
On the face of it, all this ha ha-ing refers to ha-has, the concealed walled ditches used to prevent livestock straying into private land, present in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s surrounding landscape. The seemingly tenuous link between these perfunctory piles of brick and Maciver’s colourful displays soon comes into focus. Banners with slogans that read “Re-educate the world”, “Righteous like we” and “Do better” occupy the exhibition. They start to sound sarcastic, their meaning undercut by the omnipresent laughter. It would be wrong to read this as lip-curling cynicism.
