BiG Beyond : Living in a Fantasy World

Written by Ying Chia |

It’s perhaps surprising that the world’s first and only art amusement park had survived its premature entombment in storage containers somewhere in the depths of a Texan warehouse. Even more surprising is why and how hip-hop megastar Drake and his creative studio DreamCrew, became involved in its resurrection.

‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’ will take over a sprawling Los Angeles warehouse space on the outskirts of downtown; the painstaking process of restoring the glorious and outlandish artist-designed rides and attractions has become a full-blown immersive experience that is part art, part amusement park and all fun. The original idea for Luna Luna as a conceptual amusement park was debuted in 1987 in Hamburg, Germany; by Austrian artist and performer André Heller.

A walk through the park attractions reads like a who’s who list of the art world — Salvador Dali’s disorenting ‘Dalidom’ dome, a Keith Haring carousel, a pavilion called Enchanted Tree by David Hockney, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s whimsical Ferris Wheel — just a short list of the 30 artists who agreed to the original Luna Luna park project. The works at the new Luna Luna include installations, rides and performances that are both new and old. Due to the fragile nature of some of the structures, items like the ferris wheel have become museum monuments to the incredible undertaking of Heller’s project.

More than an artsy amusement park, Luna Luna was and remains a space to dream, to giggle and be free. “The Luna Luna park is always a dream space,” says Helen Molesworth, Luna Luna’s curatorial adviser and a former chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art. “It’s like someone goes around and untightens the screws of your need to behave, your need to be good, your need to be smart, your need to be proper. Someone just untightens those four screws, and you can think different things and feel different things.” Stilt walkers, fire-breathers and all manner of the classic amusement experience are present at Luna Luna, adding to this sense of ‘elsewhere’.

Where does Drake come in, you must be wondering. According to sources, when Drake heard about the Luna Luna artifacts, he simply couldn’t believe that so many interactive works of art were just sitting in a warehouse. A mere USD100 million later, the Luna Luna park experience will run through spring of 2024 in a 60,000-square-foot warehouse complex at Ace Mission Studios in downtown Los Angeles, with big plans to eventually take the project global as Heller had intended. More current artists are rumoured to join the Luna Luna fold and make their very own mark on this incredible project.

Tickets are very reasonable at under USD$40 for adults and USD$20 for kids. Obviously, there is a collection of covetable Drake-approved merch available on the website.

Visit: www.lunaluna.com