Luna Luna: The Art Amusement Park

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In 1987, an amusement park appeared in Hamburg, Germany. Luna Lunahad all the hallmarks of a traditional fairground, featuring carousels, games, and walk-in attractions. However, it held a second purpose as an especially ambitious art exhibition. There seems to be an inexhaustible hunger for details on Haring’s sadly truncated life. Last month Phaidon published Luna Luna, André Heller’s book looking at the ’80s art theme park in Hamburg to which Haring was a key contributor. Currently the New York Public Library has more than 100 books in its archive featuring Keith Haring in the title. While critics may believe his estate is all too free and easy with licensing, there’s clearly a demand and an appreciation for the work, and there’s evidence to suggest this was exactly what he wanted. DreamCrew, which has produced shows like HBO television series Euphoria, is documenting the lead up to Luna Luna’s relaunch for a film. Next February, it is re-releasing an English translation of the original Luna Luna monograph. As a tribute to Joseph Beuys, who died in January 1986, Heller had a manifesto drawn up that the artist had authorized a few years prior. [5] Heller also contributed some works. In addition to the "wedding pavilion" and a "head-through-the-wall booth," he had a blue-red "dream station" built as a coffee house. [5] Reportedly, Andy Warhol also wanted to take part, but other American artists objected. [5] Warhol, who died in February 1987, was memorialized with a booth where visitors were allowed—based on Warhol's credo 15 minutes of fame—to be photographed next to life-size pictures of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe or Marlene Dietrich. [5] In 1987, Heller released book Luna Luna, published by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag in Munich, which features all of the attractions. For the book cover, Heller asked the participating artists to draw a moon and add a sentence they found fitting. [3]

Alongside majority holder DreamCrew, new Luna Luna partners include art attorney Daniel McClean, Something Special Studios founder Michael Goldberg, and tech entrepreneur Justin Wills. The team is restoring Luna Luna’s rides and adding entirely new attractions, all in preparation for the carnival’s first American tour next fall. A global jaunt will follow in 2024. DreamCrew, the arts and entertainment firm co-founded by rapper Drake, has acquired all remnants of Luna Luna, an otherworldly art carnival that debuted to the public just once in Hamburg in 1987 with attractions created by a number of notable artists. Among the highlights were a ferris wheel by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a mirrored fun house designed by Salvador Dalí, and a carousel hand-painted by Keith Haring. As of November 2022, the original Luna Luna works are being restored and new works being commissioned for a global tour funded by DreamCrew. [2] History [ edit ]Luna Luna was only displayed once at the Moorweide in Hamburg from June 4 to August 31, 1987. [11] The entry fee was 20 Deutsche Marks (children free on weekdays). [5] The exhibition had been expected to travel to the Netherlands later in 1987 and then the United States in 1988. [7] In 1991, it was reported that Luna Luna, described as an outdoor contemporary art museum, would be temporarily installed at Balboa Park's Inspiration Point in San Diego, California. [4] It was scheduled to be in San Diego for 18 months as a gift from the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation, based in Wilmington, Delaware. [4] Ensuing litigation due to a claimed breach of contract prevented Luna Luna from being exhibited. [12] [13] This February Phaidon Press will publish Luna Luna by André Heller, a book about the world’s first art amusement park with fully operational rides, attractions and visceral experiences designed by artists like Salvador Dalí and Keith Haring. The book, which was first published in German in 1987, marks the first English translation of the story of Luna Luna. It also coincides with the return of the original attractions to the world. In January 2022, a team of creatives rescued the project from obscurity and is currently restoring the original works ahead of a global tour in 2024 which will feature a new set of commissions from today’s most influential and innovative artists. The revolutionary collaboration of interdisciplinary artists, spanning twentieth-century art movements including Abstraction, Art Brut, Dada, Fluxus, Neo-Expressionism, Nouveau Réalisme, Pop Art, Surrealism, and Viennese Actionism, transcended any effort since to achieve artistic amusement. In an age of “immersive experiences,” which are often just popular projections of images in cavernous spaces, Luna Luna was ahead of its time and never rivaled. Luna Luna, which also featured interactive installations, games, and artist performances, was born from Heller’s belief that “art should come in unconventional guises and be brought to those who might not ordinarily seek it out in more predictable settings.” Buchhart, Dieter (2016). Jean-Michel Basquiat (PDF). Translated by Brian Currid. Holzhausen, Austria: W&K - Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, Vienna / New York.

This multicolored entrance archway to the park was designed by Ukrainian-born artist Sonia Delaunay shortly before her death. The painter may not be as famous as some of the other Luna Luna artists, but in 1964, the Louvre’s retrospective of her work was the first ever held at the museum for a living female artist. Sabina Sarnitz, courtesy Luna Luna LLC a b c d e f g h " "Zur höheren Ehre der Phantasie" ". Der Spiegel (in German). May 3, 1987 . Retrieved 2021-05-12.

There are 30 pavilions in this international carnival of the avant-garde, and each one simultaneously elevates the mind and makes the jaw drop,” a 1987 Life magazine article wrote. The art park was the brainchild of Vienna-born multimedia artist André Heller, the culmination of his yearslong odyssey to bring together the public and the avant-garde art world. But the lights went out—suddenly and unexpectedly—on Luna Luna. A performer dressed as the moon interacts with visitors outside the pavilion that American Pop Art icon Roy Lichtenstein covered with his “Perfect/Imperfect Paintings.” Sabina Sarnitz, courtesy Luna Luna LLC I think we’re actually built better than any other resource to make this a reality,” Gonzales told NYT. “We exist in live events, we exist in culture, we understand the art world and being artist-friendly.”