Even in today's Iraq, that can be a dangerous ambition, but no more dangerous, he says, than trying to build an amusement part in the face of extremist opposition.

NPR: Iraqi City Of Basra Revives After A Long Nightmare

It is hard to picture now, but between 1887 and 1911 a rollercoaster looped out over the water here as part of an amusement park.

BBC: Sydney by the sea

His Jumex collection includes, for example, pieces by 29-year-old Minerva Cuevas, who recently took over part of a Mexican amusement park to create "Dodgem, " a mad display of bumper cars sporting oil company emblems, smashing into one another.

FORBES: Mexican Medici