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In 1987, in Hamburg, Germany, artist and curator André Heller created the world’s first art amusement park called Luna Luna.
The installation saw familiar carnival set pieces, like a carousel, a Ferris wheel, and a funhouse dome reimagined by legendary artists such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dalí, and others. Unfortunately, Luna Luna shut down after three months due to legal issues.
In 2019, Michael Goldberg, founder of creative agency Something Special Studios (SSS) caught wind of Luna Luna, and an obsession started.
Goldberg detailed his role in bringing Luna Luna back to life at the C2 Montréal conference on Tuesday.
After tracking down Heller and persuading the reluctant artist to discuss Luna Luna’s revival, Goldberg secured a nearly $100 million investment from Drake in 2021, after pitching Anthony Gonzales, the chief operating officer of the rapper’s media company DreamCrew.
Gonzales now also serves as CEO of Luna Luna, and Goldberg is its chief creative officer.
Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy debuted in L.A. from December 2023 through May 2024. It then moved to New York City from November 2024 to March 2025.
While restoring Luna Luna’s installations was a challenge, Goldberg also had to design a strategy to rebuild its lost brand.
Marketing a forgotten fantasy
Goldberg’s core idea for rebuilding the Luna Luna brand was “art brought to life.” Its brand identity also revolved around honoring the past while bridging it with the present.
“We revived a literal work of art, but it was about more than that,” he said on stage. “It was about fusing art with play [and] emotion and making it accessible for everyone.”
One tactic was republishing the exhibit’s original catalog, written in German, and releasing it in English globally to educate people about Luna Luna before introducing the actual experience.
When it came to promoting the actual exhibition, Goldberg and SSS developed a marketing and commerce strategy to support Luna Luna’s brand development.
The first iteration in Los Angeles mainly focused on the reassembling and restoration of the art. For this first reintroduction, Luna Luna collaborated with brands like Prada and visual artist Carsten Höller and musicians like André 3000 for exclusive events for ticket holders.
Its second version at New York City’s The Shed marked a “massive evolution” from the first, Goldberg said.
With more space to work with, Luna Luna was able to resemble its original fairground experience, with functional amusement rides. For safety and preservation, visitors aren’t actually allowed to ride them.
It also expanded aesthetically with different lighting enhancements, a custom soundtrack coordinated to the movement of the rides, and roaming performers via its collaboration with performance duo Poncilí Creación.
Bringing in the merch
Outside of the experience, Luna Luna also extended its world through product and ecommerce. Some of the original merchandise designed by artists like Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf in 1987 was made available to purchase, as well as newly designed clothing items and figurines of the art.
“We were able to expand on our narrative and storytelling and bring in a layer of oral history that the first show didn’t incorporate,” he said. Luna Luna also launched a “Forgotten Fantasy” podcast hosted by art historian Helen Molesworth.
Looking ahead, Goldberg said Luna Luna is “just getting started.” While he declined to disclose specifics regarding future iterations of the exhibit, he shared that he is currently scoping out new locations for the experience and plans to expand its retail offerings as well as partner with new artists.
“There are people that come to Luna Luna and really love and appreciate the art component,” he told ADWEEK after his session. “There are people that come and don’t know anything about the artists but appreciate the story. So there’s something that people can take away whether you’re an art lover or not.”
