Video Clips and stills from Luna Luna

I found this photo above from a blog post by William Poundstone asking whether the relaunched Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy was worth it (see here), having helped Jim build the original show, install it and then help operate it in Hamburg back in 1987, it is shame that the new version just displays some of the figures on clothes rails rather than has the working version of the installation.

But I did find this Instagram post from the Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy profile that includes some video footage of Jim’s original Mechanical Theatre at Luna Luna in Hamburg (1987), as well as some stills from then but also some of the static display at recently relaunched Forgotten Fantasy version in Los Angeles earlier this year:

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There’s also one from them on TikTok that has slightly longer version of the same clip, but neither really do the original installation justice:

@thisislunaluna

British artist and inventor Jim Whiting in the process of bringing his Mechanical Theatre to life. Whiting animated clothed mannequins and robots using a system he dubbed “Air Muscles,” which were made from a series of air-filled fire hoses that spurred the figures to move in different directions. #lunaluna #forgottenfantasy #jimwhiting #arthistory #arttok

♬ Wes Anderson-esque Cute Acoustic – Kenji Ueda