In 2022, the multi-media artist André Heller stood face-to-face with a long-abandoned project collecting dust in the Texas desert. Forty-four weathered crates held monumental creations by some of the world’s most famous artists. They hadn’t been opened in 35 years. The crates contained bits and pieces of Luna Luna, history’s first fusion of an amusement park and a contemporary-art installation. It opened in Hamburg in the summer of 1987. The Ferris wheel was designed by Jean-Michel Basquiat; the merry-go-round, by Keith Haring. David Hockney provided an enchanted tree, and a mirrored dome was the brainchild of Salvador Dalí. Two hundred artisans worked on the project. After that successful 1987 opening, Heller’s plans for a European tour fell by the wayside. The 30 pavilions, along with permits and transportation, presented a logistical nightmare. Heller sold Luna Luna to the Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation for $6 million, and subsequent litigation resulted in the rides going into storage. Luna Luna vanished. With help from the rapper Drake, who purchased the park during the pandemic, and countless teams of lawyers, museums, and curators, Heller’s creation opened in Los Angeles in December 2023. Now it comes to the Shed, in New York City. —Elena Clavarino