Museum of Sex | Super Funland
by Morgan Vickery
Imagine it’s 1939; post-Industrial Revolution and World Fairs have popped up around the world with traveling carnivals and expositions growing larger in attendance, significance, and grandeur. Norman Bel Geddes presents his topless “Crystal Lassies,” and Salvador Dali’s Pavilion “Dream of Venus” stands on display. Despite our present day family-friendly carnivals, the history of world fair’s were, once upon a time, a realm of repressed promiscuity, desire, and rebellion against societal and sexual “norms.”
Inspired by the salaciousness of these fairgrounds, The Museum of Sex presents SUPER FUNLAND: Journey into the Erotic Carnival— it’s largest, most interactive exhibition to date. Fusing art, experience, and a pinch of humor, the multi-floor show dives into aspects of sexual pleasure with thirteen x-rated games and amusements.
The exhibition begins with Al Stencell, who joined the circus at age 11, and his documentation of burlesque, strip, and girlie shows at the time. It then transitions to an immersive 180-degree cinema describing carnival origins, which leads to “Stardust Lane,” a forty-foot kaleidoscope. Some of the immersive, and highlighted exhibitions include a 4-D “Tunnel of Love” experience, RuPaul erotic fortune-telling machine, biometric “Kissing Booth,” and two-story spiral slide which relocates visitors to the Lollipop Lounge— a psychedelic bar.
En masse, the interactive experience is a history lesson with satirical games wrapped up in a sugar-coated bow. Whether your clawing for tit-shaped stress balls or riding a vibrating mechanical bull, entertainment will surround you at every turn. Check out the erotic carnival on view at 233 Fifth Avenue.
Photography by: Kris Graves