Luna Luna

Tickets have recently gone on sale for Luna Luna - A Forgotten Art Carnival. The park, originally opened in Hamburg, Germany, in the summer of 1987, was the brainchild of Austrian artist, author, and pop star André Heller. More than a decade earlier, Heller began envisioning Luna Luna, inspired by the Prater amusement park in his childhood home, Vienna.

The show presents a vibrant collection of larger-than-life installations, some crafted by renowned artists themselves or skilled artisans from the Vienna opera. Of the nearly 30 original works, 16 are currently exhibited, while the rest undergo restoration work in storage elsewhere in Los Angeles. While visitors can't actually ride the carnival attractions, they are displayed like museum pieces, illuminated with colorful lighting and surrounded by performers, including jugglers and stilt walkers. The immersive experience also features musical compositions by Miles Davis and Philip Glass. Luna Luna's layout is open, encouraging visitors to explore at their own pace, much like amusement parks, with no set route between attractions.

For those eager to step inside stationary installations, there are works by Keith Haring and David Hockney. Hockney's Enchanted Tree offers a towering cylindrical pavilion with waltzes to listen to. Salvador Dali's Dalídom features a geodesic dome adorned with trippy triangular mirrors and vibrant pink panels. And that’s only the first room: Walk underneath Sonia Delaunay’s “Luna Luna” archway, and you’ll find yourself in another cavernous space, anchored on one end by a white, all-wood 1920s Ferris wheel adorned with Jean-Michel Basquiat’s familiar motifs, including anatomical, historical, and musical drawings and words, with a baboon’s ass visible on the back. This is where you’ll also find a glass labyrinth wrapped in triangular Roy Lichtenstein panels and a wedding chapel from Heller that lets you marry whoever or whatever you’d like. You’ll receive a Polaroid and a faux marriage certificate that you can void simply by ripping it up.