Since its unveiling in Los Angeles last year, “Luna Luna” has captivated audiences with its enchanting lost-and-then-found narrative and nostalgic connection to cherished childhood memories. Now “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy” has arrived at The Shed in New York, and this exhibition offers far more than simple entertainment: it’s an invitation to revisit a time when art progressively found its way into different layers of social life—in some cases, offering a window into the past and a means of re-experiencing the wonder of childhood.
Luna Luna, the world’s first art amusement park, was brought to life in the summer of 1987 in Hamburg by Viennese artist, pop singer, cultural pioneer and peace activist André Heller. In just one season, it enchanted the 300,000 visitors who rode its vintage-style carnival rides that were also original art installations designed by the likes of then-emerging-artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Keith Haring and David Hockney, as well as already established icons like Roy Lichtenstein and Salvador Dalí. Together, they built a world of wonder in a creativity-empowering liminal space between art experience and fantasy. Originally meant to tour around the world, Luna Luna ended up dismantled and locked away in storage containers in Texas for more than thirty years until its rediscovery by entrepreneur Michael Goldberg and purchase by world-renowned musician Drake.
“Forgotten Fantasy” aims to bring back this one-of-a-kind experience of wonder that our society seems to desperately need, sparking curiosity and encouraging creative cross-pollination between storytelling practices that can still ignite the human imagination, even amid the modern threat of alienation. That said, while this multi-sensory exhibition is more than just Instagrammable eye candy, not all of the attractions—or, more accurately, art installations—are fully operational thanks to their delicate conservation needs. In other words, there’s no riding these rides.
But visitors can still lose themselves in the mesmerizing glass mirror labyrinth by Roy Lichtenstein or, for the romantic, take part in an improvised wedding in Heller’s Wedding Chapel. This ceremony comes complete with all the trappings to make it feel almost official—including a certificate with a Polaroid and signature—except the rings are frisbees. Once you step into these experiences, you’ve already agreed to be vulnerable enough to embrace this alternate dimension between reason and societal constraints, offering an expressive space to indulge in fantasy while tapping into more unconscious responses to the environment. Memories, as we know, often trigger the most instinctive and emotional reactions to our surroundings, which we then filter through the lens of “socially accepted” meanings.
Functional or not, most of the carnival rides and attractions on display transcend the ordinary, as only art can do, granting visitors access to a fantastical experience anchored by the established names of artists, legitimizing these moments as “worthy aesthetic experiences” in an adult world.
One of the most picture-perfect attractions at “Luna Luna” is Keith Haring’s painted carousel, which transforms the artist’s iconic graphic drawings into three-dimensional seats in bubble-gum pink, lime green and tangerine orange. Haring’s presence is felt in his self-portrait, where he is depicted holding a paintbrush on two panels at the carousel’s center. Another panel features a grinning crescent moon—a nod to the drawing he made for the Luna Luna T-shirts originally sold at the park.
A Victorian-style swing chair, graffitied with playful geometric shapes, features Kenny Scharf’s signature cartoon figures. According to the lengthy explanations accompanying each attraction, Scharf spent weeks painstakingly painting the swing in a Vienna warehouse. Many of the artists involved in the 1987 project, in fact, participated directly, dedicating time to work on specific commissions.
This was the case with David Hockney’s poetic environment, Enchanted Tree, which the artist conceived as a captivating pavilion painted with multicolored, geometric trees and featuring classical music by Johann and Joseph Strauss. Hockney’s work was a fantastical synthesis of art and nature, evoking a sense of the sublime and stirring the soul. Another installation closer to art than amusement park fare is Rebecca Horn’s Love Thermometer, featuring a functioning thermometer that registers a range of emotions, from “solitude” to “tenderness” to “longing”—a diagnosis provided based on the participant’s body temperature. Even Luna Luna’s entrance was an artwork, covered as it was in mystical kaleidoscopic abstractions by Sonia Delaunay, expanding her vision of an artistic universe integrated into all aspects of life.
One of the central pieces is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painted vintage Ferris wheel from 1933, reimagined as part of the artist’s vibrant visual universe. Among its characters is jazz legend Charlie Parker; Basquiat only agreed to the commission once it was confirmed that the Ferris wheel could be accompanied by Miles Davis’s 1986 track “Tutu.”
The surreal experience continues with the Salvador Dalí-signed Dalíom pavilion: a mesmerizing geodesic dome with an interior covered in painted trapeze dancers and mirrors designed to induce spatial hallucinations, creating a kaleidoscope of endless perspectives that subvert the senses of space and gravity. Echoing through this temple of illusions is an ambient soundtrack of Gregorian chants by the Blue Chip Orchestra, bridging Dalí’s 1939 Dream of Venus surrealist funhouse with the fantastical realms found in amusement parks, inviting visitors to surrender to a surrealist vision of delight.
While it might disappoint some that none of these rides are operational given the steep $44 ticket, a continuous set of whimsical performances—re-choreographed and reinvented by local New York performers—amplify the carnivalesque magic. It’s reminiscent of how Cirque du Soleil reimagined what a circus could be, blending different disciplines with arts. The result is a complex multisensory orchestration, offering a journey back to the colorful experiences we remember most vividly from our youth.
An enchanting escape from the grind of city life, “Luna Luna” provides an unusual yet cohesive artistic experience, revealing an unexpected angle from which to engage with the aesthetics of renowned artists who, in a time of radical action, sought to bring the imaginative power of art to a broader audience. Ultimately, “Luna Luna” is far more than an Instagrammable spectacle—it’s an experience that can evoke a broad set of emotional and psychological responses, depending on how deep you’re willing to explore.
“Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy” is on view at the Shed through January 5.
