Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy amusement park features attractions by Basquiat, Dalí, Haring

Forget about a spin on the Ferris wheel or the carousel. The attractions at “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy” are simply meant to be admired — which, considering they were designed by artistic visionaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dalí, David Hockney and Keith Haring, might not be such a bad thing.

The artistic amusement park, first displayed in 1987 in Hamburg, Germany, will be on view at The Shed at Hudson Yards in Manhattan starting Nov. 20. Among the artwork featured will be a geodesic dome created by Dalí and a glass labyrinth crafted by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

“It’s an incredible experience,” said the exhibit’s creative director, Michael Goldberg. “It’s very different from your typical visit to an art museum or to an amusement park. It’s a unique blending of those worlds.”

Goldberg, who heads the creative agency Something Special Studios, rescued the pieces from the shipping containers in which they had languished for nearly 40 years after reading an article about the amusement park in 2019.

The concept was the brainchild of Austrian artist André Heller. With a grant from a German magazine, he convinced 32 artists to create amusement park rides, offering them very little compensation but encouraging them with the idea that they could relive their youth. Once completed, Luna Luna ran for only a few months, with plans for ongoing exhibitions scuttled by complicated lawsuits. Eventually, the entire display was packed up in shipping containers and sent to a field in Texas.

“You can’t make this up,” said Goldberg.

Intrigued by the story, he said he decided the world needed “Luna Luna 2.0.”

After hundreds of emails, Zoom calls and a trip to Vienna to meet with Heller, Goldberg said he put together a consortium of investors, led by rapper Drake’s company DreamCrew. They purchased the exhibit for approximately $100 million, said Goldberg, and started to figure out how to resurrect the project.

The rides were “in surprisingly good condition,” he said. With minimal refurbishment, Luna Luna opened in Los Angeles in December 2023 and is scheduled to be in New York through Jan. 5.

“The thing I loved is that it appeals to such a wide audience,” Goldberg said. “What’s so special is you have people in the art world coming to look at the Basquiat Ferris wheel … and someone who doesn’t even know who Basquiat is.”

One of Goldberg’s favorite pieces is a wedding chapel, topped with giant caricatures of a bride and groom, that was created by Heller.

In 1987, Goldberg said, “Germany was split, the [Berlin] Wall was still up [and] same-sex marriage, biracial marriage were things people weren’t able to do freely.” At the chapel, he said, people “were encouraged to come express their love.”

Today that ethos remains. Special arrangements can be made for legal weddings, but in the spiritual sense, said Goldberg, everyone is invited to marry whoever they want.

IF YOU GO

'Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy'

Where: The Shed, 545 W. 30th St. (between 10th and 11th avenues)

Tickets: $44-$64 for adults; $20-25 for children 3-16. A Moon Pass, which allows expedited entry, concession and merchandise discounts is $88-$128. theshed.org

Hours: noon-8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; noon-10 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m.Sunday