Enjoy A Creative Ride With Basquiat, Haring, Scharf, Hockney, Dalí, Other Masters Via Phaidon’s Recreation Of ‘Luna Luna’ Art Amusement Park

1987 was a roller coaster year. The first The Simpsons cartoon short aired on The Tracey Ullman Show. West German citizen Mathias Rust,landed a small Cessna airplane in Red Square. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped a staggering 22.6 percent in a single trading session, marking infamous Blue Monday the first contemporary global financial crisis. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed a treaty to eliminate a weapons class and reduce the number of weapons in their nuclear stockpile. The Disney corporation and France agreed to create an amusement park.

In under-reported yet culturally explosive news, the world’s first contemporary art amusement park debuted in Hamburg, Germany, featuring singular and fully operational fairground attractions created by more than 30 of the era’s renowned artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and Salvador Dalí.

The February 15 release of LUNA LUNA: THE ART AMUSEMENT PARK transports us back to the summer of 1987. The new Phaidon tome is the first English translation of the original text, with a new preface by creator and author André Heller. Published in German in 1987, the book documents the evolution and adventure of the original spectacle. The translation and reprinting coincides with the rediscovery and restoration of Luna Luna’s inimitable attractions.

The genuine triumphs over the generic, as we explore the minds and mastery of our greatest unrivaled contemporary creative forces. The amusement park artworks have been relegated to relative obscurity over the last nearly 36 years, and the book seeks to revive their glory. Embark on a rare visual journey that meticulously documents the works through the artists’ processes and their original sketches.

Slow down and circulate your thoughts about gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation, alongside Haring’s familiar, fungible human figures adorning the carousel. Soar to new heights via Basquiat’s fearless Ferris wheel. Turn up the heat with Rebecca Horn’s Thermometer of Lovers, where participants warm their hands with an instrument that evaluates the degree of their passion. Figuratively climb Hockney’s Enchanted Tree through a fairy tale about a symphony orchestra transformed into architecture. Swing away your worries with Kenny Scharf. Let yourself hallucinate in the Dalí Dome, a spatial experience with mirrors and a facade of fried eggs. Listen as Philip Glass collaborates with Lichtenstein in the Pavilion of the Glass Labyrinth.

To help promote Luna Luna, each artist was invited to create a moon graphic and a short accompanying text. The book cover presents a collage of symbols and motifs that appeared on the original 1987 edition. The new book jacket is printed on both sides to reveal a poster of the original park, and the case is printed with glow-in-the-dark ink.

More than 240,000 people visited Luna Luna during its thirteen-week run in Hamburg. Luna Luna. was supposed to travel a global tour, but an ownership change led to litigation and the functional artworks ended up in storage.

At $49.95, the 336-page hardback showcasing 350 color illustrations, is a fraction of the cost of one of those mainstream normative amusement parks that slam the breaks on individuality and self expression.Break out your spandex, leg warmers, and neon big hair accessories, and joining Phaidon on this whimsical visual ride.