Luna Luna Lives!

Dusk falls as carnival goers eat cotton candy, giggling under a Ferris wheel designed by . . . famous artist Jean-Michel Basquiat? Nearby, people laugh as they exit Salvador Dalí’s fun house and sit on sculptures by Keith Haring as they spin on a carousel. It’s not a strange dream. It’s a real carnival, embellished by world-renowned artists, called Luna Luna!

In the mid-1980s, artist André Heller asked more than 30 popular artists of the time to design rides, games, and performances. His vision became reality when Luna Luna opened in Hamburg, Germany, in the summer of 1987.

After one successful summer, the amusement park closed. For decades, the artworks sat in storage. Then in 2022, DreamCrew, an entertainment company co-founded by musician Drake, purchased the Luna Luna artworks. The company restored these lost-and-found rides and reopened Luna Luna as an immersive art experience. The exhibit opened for a short time in Los Angeles in 2023 and for several months in New York City in 2024-25. Visitors are not allowed to ride the artworks today, but Luna Luna draws large crowds, just as it did in 1987.

Salvador Dalí, Dalídom

Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí wanted to give parkgoers an out-of-this-world experience. He created the Dalídom, a fun house with a mirrored interior. On the exterior, Dalí painted panels with trapeze artists in a nighttime landscape. Dalí was known for pushing the limits of reality and playing with viewers’ senses. How would you feel stepping inside this reflective fun house?

Keith Haring, Painted carousel and industrially fabricated tarps

New York City street artist Keith Haring decorated a carousel with his signature line drawings and bright colors. The carousel is all about movement— short motion lines surround the doodle-like animals and figures, creating a sense of excitement. How might these images look when the carousel is spinning?

Jean-Michel Basquiat painted and drew many of his iconic figures on a wooden Ferris wheel. Basquiat, who started out making graffiti, found inspiration in music. He agreed to paint this attraction only after securing permission to play Miles Davis’s 1986 song “Tutu” on the ride. For this installation, Basquiat sent designs to André Heller, who arranged for artisans in Vienna to produce them. This was the only instance in which a Basquiat work was created remotely.

Kenny Scharf, Painted chair swing ride and freestanding sculptures

Kenny Scharf, a Los Angeles-based artist, describes himself as a “pop surrealist.” Scharf finds inspiration in pop culture— especially cartoons. He painted colorful geometric shapes and figures on a Victorian-style swing ride for Luna Luna. Look closely at the designs. Do they remind you of any cartoons? The designs and glowing lights adorning the ride make it feel like it’s out of a dream.