The world-premiere GOMA exhibition will span 70 years of Henson history, featuring puppets, sets and more than 90 films — including a world-first presentation of sets from ‘Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock.’

The worlds of Jim Henson are heading to Brisbane, with characters and creations from Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal and Farscape forming part of a major new exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art.

Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company will open exclusively at GOMA on Sept. 12, bringing together what organisers describe as the most comprehensive collection of creations from The Jim Henson Company ever assembled.

Spanning the entire ground floor of GOMA, the exhibition explores the company’s 70-year history and the evolution of its puppetry, filmmaking, animatronics and digital techniques.

Among the familiar faces making the trip to Brisbane are Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Elmo from Sesame Street, alongside Gobo, Red, Mokey, Wembley and Boober from Fraggle Rock.

The company’s more fantastical screen creations will also be represented, including characters and creatures from Jim Henson’s 1986 David Bowie-starring Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal and science-fiction series Farscape.

One of the exhibition’s major drawcards will be the first public presentation of sets from Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rockoutside their production environment. Visitors will be able to walk through Doc’s House, the Great Hall and Boober’s Cave, with the sets transported to Brisbane from the show’s Canadian soundstages.

Objects from The Dark Crystal will include Aughra and a giant Landstrider puppet.

“The genius of The Jim Henson Company transcends age, culture and geography, and this exhibition will captivate audiences with moment after moment that taps into the enduring affection that its creations have earned with generations of audiences,” QAGOMA director Chris Saines said.

The exhibition is divided into three chapters examining the development of the Henson company’s work, beginning with its early experiments and commercial productions before moving through children’s television, feature films and increasingly elaborate world-building.

It will also explore the work of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, including the company’s use of animatronics and subsequent embrace of digital technology.

Exhibition curator and QAGOMA Curatorial Manager, Australian Cinémathèque, Amanda Slack-Smith said the Fraggle Rock sets would offer audiences an unusual opportunity to see Henson’s craft from the perspective of the puppeteers themselves.

“We can’t wait to take audiences behind the scenes of an actual set used for a Henson puppet production,” Slack-Smith said. “The world-first opportunity to present these spectacular Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock sets, direct from their Canada soundstages, will give visitors an unrivalled understanding of the craft of puppetry.”

Running alongside the exhibition will be an Australian Cinémathèque program featuring more than 90 films. Curated by Victoria Wareham, the retrospective will encompass productions made by The Jim Henson Company as well as films featuring work created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

The Queensland government is backing the exhibition as a tourism drawcard, with Tourism Minister Andrew Powell projecting it will generate as many as 110,000 visitor nights and deliver a $22 million economic boost to the state.

The exhibition’s September opening will also coincide with Brisbane Festival.

Henson founded the company that would become The Jim Henson Company in 1955 and went on to transform television puppetry through characters and techniques that crossed from children’s entertainment into mainstream popular culture. While the Muppets became his most famous creations, Henson’s work also extended into increasingly ambitious fantasy filmmaking, most notably The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company runs at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art from Sept. 12, 2026 through April 18, 2027.

Tickets and exhibition information — QAGOMA