Aspex Gallery director shares happy memories of Southsea dinosaur Luna Park 10 years on

A decade ago, late in the evening as the sun was just setting, three (or was it four) huge flatbed lorries arrived on Southsea Common at the end of their long journey from Serbia. On each, enormous parts of what would, over the next week, be craned into place to become Heather and Ivan Morison’s Luna Park. A 16m tall re-creation of an Ultrasaurus, a dinosaur which never actually existed, but was created by the accidental bringing together of bones from a number of other species; a mythical dinosaur.

So how did this strange scene come about in Portsmouth? I was chatting with Hannah Firth, then curator of Chapter (Cardiff’s contemporary art centre), and she told me of a conversation she had been having with artists Heather and Ivan Morison. They had a dream of making a concrete dinosaur inspired by the roadside constructions seen in the USA, which could be airlifted into position.

Artists invent extraordinary stories, they have dreams, and arts organisations try to help them become a reality. Hannah brought together interested parties: ourselves at Aspex and Firstsite in Colchester. The idea captured our imaginations and before long this incredibly ambitious project was under construction, built in a shed made of recycled pallets by former car plant workers in a small town in Serbia.

That’s how I found myself spending the last week of July 2010, watching the installation of a crazy dinosaur puzzle that looked like an enormous child’s toy. All week the team of technicians, gallery staff and artists, pieced the work together. The installation of artworks always takes up every available minute of the time you have, so we pushed the scaffold tower away from the sculpture just as the brass band piped up for the grand opening ceremony on Saturday, July 31.

I have strong and happy memories of that day. The band, the Lord Mayor’s speech, a hog roast for everyone, children playing and eating ice cream. Orderly queues to sit on the end of the tail. An enormous feeling of relief, a drink back at the gallery with the artists and team to toast the realisation of a dream.

Today the Southsea Dinosaur is part of the urban myth and folklore of this extraordinary city. Luna Park 10 Years, Celebrating the Southsea Dinosaur will provide an opportunity for people to visit the dinosaur once again, but this time in virtual reality! We will be asking you to share your own memories and treasured photographs as we construct a community archive to mark a fun and strange point in our shared history.

If you’d like to find out more, join a conversation with the artists Heather and Ivan Morison, Hannah Firth and I on Sunday, August 2, via Zoom. You can find further details about this event on our website aspex.org.uk along with information about how you can access the new VR work, share your memories and support our Crowdfunder to commission a lasting tribute.

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