Inside GOMA's Make, Believe, Magic: Brisbane's Biggest Exhibition of the Year Is Finally Open

Brisbane doesn't get handed a world exclusive like this often. 'Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company' opened its doors at the Gallery of Modern Art today, and for the next seven months, GOMA's entire ground floor belongs to Kermit, Big Bird, the Fraggles, the Skeksis and everything in between.

This isn't a touring greatest-hits package. It's the first exhibition ever built to traverse the full 70-year history of The Jim Henson Company, and Brisbane is the only city in the world that has it. More than 500 objects — handcrafted puppets, animatronic creatures, full-scale sets, costumes, original drawings and digital puppetry — trace a line from a 1955 five-minute sketch show taped in a Washington DC studio through to the Netflix-era digital puppetry of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Why Brisbane, Why Now

The scale of the get isn't just cultural bragging rights — it's genuine economic firepower for the city. Queensland's Tourism Minister Andrew Powell says the exhibition is expected to generate up to 110,000 visitor nights and deliver a $22 million boost to the local economy, as fans travel from interstate and overseas to see it. Education and Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek framed the timing deliberately: landing alongside Brisbane Festival and just a week out from Queensland school holidays, it's designed to be impossible to miss, and part of a longer play to cement Brisbane's cultural reputation ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For visitors, the reason to go is simpler: nowhere else on earth currently has this much of the Jim Henson Company's real, physical history under one roof.

What's Actually Inside

The centrepiece is a world first — the genuine production sets from Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, flown in from the show's filming base in Canada. 'Doc's Workshop' and the sprawling 'Great Hall,' instantly familiar from every episode's opening titles, have been rebuilt at GOMA at real puppeteer height, backstage corridors included. Curator Amanda Slack-Smith calls it 'a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to navigate these unique environments... in an authentic and immersive behind-the-scenes experience.'

From there, the exhibition moves through the fantasy worlds of Labyrinth's Goblin King and Farscape's Dominar Rygel XVI — the Sydney-filmed sci-fi series that gave Jim Henson's Creature Shop one of its biggest Australian credits — before building to an immersive Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance finale: a menagerie of Gelfling and Skeksis, a towering Landstrider, and the production's own Crystal of Truth. Sesame Street's Big Bird, Mr Snuffleupagus, Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Elmo all make an appearance too, alongside, of course, the world's most famous frog.

Built for School Holidays

Queensland state school holidays land right in the middle of the exhibition's opening weeks, and GOMA has built around it. The Sock Puppet Studio runs daily through the holidays (10am–3.30pm), letting kids build a puppet and perform with it on the spot — included with an exhibition ticket. Family Fun Days bring free puppetry performances and live music to GOMA on Saturday 26 September, with more dates in January. If you're after something bookable, Kids Tours (a crowd-free, multi-sensory family experience) run select Saturdays from late October, and the Teens Creativity Lounge offers a free, drop-in creative space for 13–17-year-olds on select Sundays.

For the diehards, Henson Heads: The Big Puppet Game Show hits Cinema A on Saturday 24 October — a pop-culture trivia night hosted by comedian Emma Holland, reinvented as an old-school ventriloquist act for the occasion. And from March, GOMA Friday Nights turns the exhibition space into 'Brisbane's most imaginative night out' across six Friday evenings, with cocktails, bespoke bars and a DJ takeover of the Vinyl Listening Bar.

Alongside the exhibition, GOMA's Australian Cinémathèque is running three free film programs — Screened to be Believed: The Jim Henson Company, Where the Wild Things Are Made: Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and Beyond Henson: Puppetry and World Cinema — more than 90 films in total, viewable with or without an exhibition ticket.

Want to Know More Before You Go?

The Jim Henson Company and QAGOMA are hosting a live Q&A stream at 8am this Monday, 14 September (AEST) — a genuine chance to put questions to the people who built the exhibition, free to register for.

Planning Your Visit

'Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company' runs at GOMA from now until 18 April 2027. Visitors travelling in for the exhibition can extend their stay with a dedicated package at W Brisbane, and families visiting these school holidays can drop into the playful Pop-Up Post Office to send a postcard to their future selves. Afterwards, the Foyer Store stocks everything from an exclusive Make, Believe, Magic hardcover book to Fraggle Rock, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Sesame Street merchandise.

Full tickets, session times and the complete events calendar are available at qagoma.qld.gov.au.