By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — What do you get when you connect some of the world’s most celebrated art with an amusement park theme?
You get “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy,” an exhibit currently on display in the art district of Los Angeles, featuring classic, original art pieces from nearly 30 professional artists including Basquiat, Hockney, Lichtenstein, Haring and Dalí.
The exhibition, designed to entertain families and change perceptions of fine art, has a fascinating history that started 37 years ago, in 1987, when “Luna Luna,” a fun experiment, landed in Hamburg, Germany, as the world’s first art amusement park with rides, games and attractions.
It was a place where people could be whirled around on sculptures being raised high into the sky on political and social commentary, or tiptoe through a pop art mirror maze.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, that included limited funding, the park’s treasures were soon sealed in 44 shipping containers that were lost and forgotten in Texas — until recently.
Andre Heller, an Austrian pop star and artist is the mastermind behind “Luna Luna.” He is the one who conceptualized the exhibit and assembled the other contributors.
After being stored for decades, “Luna Luna,” now considered a valuable period piece, was purchased and partially restored by an entrepreneurial team that includes rapper Drake’s DreamCrew, which is the artist’s all-purpose business and management apparatus.
A groundbreaking theme park, “Luna Luna’s” attractions now called, “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy” have been restored and arranged and are currently on view in an enormous warehouse just east of downtown Los Angeles through May 12.
The show, a spectacular, fun-filled showcase, unravels the tale of a fantastical fairground.
The exhibition spans 60,000 square feet and features one-of-a-kind rides and interactive installations by world-renowned artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Arik Brauer, Salvador Dali, Sonia Delaunay, Kenny Scharf, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Monika GilSing, Keith Haring, Andre Heller, Jim Whiting, Rebecca Horn, Manfred Deix, Daniel Spoerri, Joseph Beuys and more.
Attendees can view Basquiat’s Ferris wheel, a painted chair swing ride by Scharf, an entrance archway by Delaunay, an enormous carousel designed by Haring with his iconic cartoon silhouette as ride cars, a mirror maze by Lichtenstein, seminal 1960s British pop artist David Hockney’s “Enchanted Tree,” an immersive exhibit where guests walk into a container that looks like a forest and listen to a soundtrack by the Berlin Symphony. Spanish surrealist pioneer Salvador Dalí contributed the “Dalídom,” a mirrored dome meant to be experienced from the inside.
Some of the pieces poke fun at the trappings of fine art and raise questions about what exactly defines that concept.
Passing by a recreation of André Heller’s inflatable Dream Station, guests enter through a midnight blue corridor and are welcomed by a fast-moving video that introduces the original Luna Luna. The exhibition is divided into two rooms and connected by Delaunay’s monumental entrance archway with the original Luna Luna sign — and lightbulbs.
Entering the first space, guests are greeted by freestanding sculptures and Haring’s painted carousel, and industrially fabricated tarps. Alongside these works are Manfred Deix’s Palace of the Winds, Arik Brauer’s Carousel, and photo archives by Sabina Sarnitz, who captured Luna Luna’s development in more than 10,000 photographs across multiple cities from 1986 through the park’s opening in 1987.
Guests are transported to the second space through Delaunay’s archway, opening to a grand view of Basquiat’s painted Ferris wheel, with signature stick figures and text that reference African dynasties and Jim Crow laws. On the back of the Ferris wheel is a full portrait of a baboon’s bald buttocks. While it rotates, legendary musician Miles Davis’s 1986 song “Tutu” fills the room. There are no passengers on this Ferris wheel, and there never will be.
The antique wooden wheel, which dates to 1933, was painted by artisans in Vienna following Basquiat’s instruction and design — the only instance in which a Basquiat work was executed remotely. Other works in the space include Dalí’s Dalídom pavilion, a geodesic dome with a mirrored interior that produces a mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic infinity effect, enhanced by an ambient soundtrack with Gregorian chants by a Blue Chip Orchestra.
Opposite Dalídom is Lichtenstein’s Luna Luna Pavilion, a glass labyrinth encased in Lichtenstein-designed panels with a soundtrack by the minimalist composer Philip Glass. Nearby are Daniel Spoerri’s Crap Chancellery, Rebecca Horn’s Love Thermometer and André Heller’s Wedding Chapel, in which, according to Luna Luna’s imaginative law, “anyone and every one can marry what and whom they want.”
In the second space, guests are presented with a timeline — part mood board, part cultural history — a short documentary on Luna Luna, commissioned by Heller; and videos that showcase the process of reassembling Luna Luna for today.
Lastly, the Luna Luna Shop offers a curated selection of new and archival Luna Luna merchandise and memorabilia, some exclusive to the Los Angeles exhibition and many also available online at lunaluna.com.
Attendees can peruse extensive archival documents, study blueprints, watch documentary footage of the restoration process inside a rusty shipping container and buy souvenirs.
Due to its historic preservation, “Luna Luna” is now only for looking; riding the rides is prohibited.
Performers of all kinds roam the space, interacting with guests.
“Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy,” is open through May 12, at1601 E. 6th St., Los Angeles. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday. For more information and tickets, visit lunaluna.com. General admission tickets start at $30 for adults and $15 for children.
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
