Sesame Street<\/a> \u2013 it\u2019s easy to see why. And maybe it\u2019s my imagination, or the transportive power of whimsy unleashed, but I swear Snuffy just winked at me.<\/p>\nJim Henson on the set of Fraggle Rock. Photograph: Bruce Macaulay\/The Jim Henson Company<\/p>\n
Several years in the making, this joyous exhibition celebrates the unmatched genius of Jim Henson: writer, director, artist, puppeteer and creator of the Muppets. It features more than 500 objects \u2013 puppets, props, costumes, photos, sketches, storyboards and more \u2013 sourced from the Jim Henson Company\u2019s extensive archive, plus several other US institutions.<\/p>\n
Taking in the breadth of the company\u2019s 70-year history, the exhibition charts not only Henson\u2019s career, cut short by his unexpected death in 1990, but the body of work produced by his heirs, both literal and spiritual, who carry the torch for puppetry, animatronics and practical effects into the digital age.<\/p>\n
Occupying Goma\u2019s entire ground floor, the exhibition stretches over three realms, exploring the making, performance and possibilities of puppetry, respectively. As Slack-Smith guides me through the first rooms, it feels like, wherever you look, some fuzzy face returns your gaze.<\/p>\n
Big Bird and Mr Snuffleupagus together inside Goma, Brisbane. Photograph: David Kelly\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Old pals like Grover and Elmo beam from their plinths, while lesser-known monsters and oddballs (for example, the creepy-cute cast of Jim Henson\u2019s Turkey Hollow, a Thanksgiving special from 2015) also get their time out of the archive and into the spotlight.<\/p>\n
A decent handful of these puppets have never been displayed before. \u201cThis is the only second time that Snuffy\u2019s been out of the US,\u201d Slack-Smith says. When I ask how a sir of Snuffy\u2019s length \u2013 13 feet from trunk to tail \u2013 is transported from New York to Brisbane, she grins: \u201cIt\u2019s a mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kermit the Frog. Photograph: David Kelly\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Another hulking highlight shipped across the Pacific is Fraggle Rock itself. The subterranean set of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock \u2013 the 2022 reboot of Henson\u2019s original 1980s series \u2013 sprawls across one room. We stroll from Doc\u2019s workshop to the Gorgs\u2019 garden to the Fraggles\u2019 cavernous Great Hall, where every nook and cranny is seasoned with details from both iterations of the show.<\/p>\n
The Goma press release describes the exhibition as \u201cimmersive\u201d, a term I\u2019d assumed was marketing hyperbole. But as I follow Slack-Smith into Boober\u2019s Cave, the Fraggles\u2019 clean laundry hanging overhead, I genuinely feel the temperature drop.<\/p>\n
More importantly, this isn\u2019t just a site for fan service and photo opps. It\u2019s designed as a working set, reconstructed at the elevated height screen puppetry requires, with live feeds running to interactive vision mixers, and a platform where patrons can try their hand at the demanding craft.<\/p>\n
double quotation markIt\u2019s a timely reminder that the most affecting art is made not by algorithm or prompt, but by human hand and heart<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s meant to feel like everyone\u2019s gone to lunch and you get to have a bit of a play,\u201d Slack-Smith says, leading me behind the scenes, literally, to the back of Fraggle Rock. \u201cYou can actually see how they build the sets. Some of it\u2019s hand-carved, some of it\u2019s cast. You can see where it\u2019s had a life, because it\u2019s been used on multiple seasons and specials.\u201d She points to some G-rated graffiti \u2013 \u201cMokey for President!\u201d \u2013 scrawled by puppeteers on the back of the set.<\/p>\n
Puppets in Boober\u2019s Cave. Photograph: David Kelly\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
\u201cPuppeteering is an ancient art form,\u201d the curator continues as we head into the next room. \u201cIt\u2019s used for storytelling, and there\u2019s something about mediating through a third party that means you get to have conversations that are hard and tough. But you get to relax into it. Puppeteering as an art form is integral to how we move through life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving away from the hand and rod puppetry of the Muppets, the exhibition also explores the animatronic innovations of Jim Henson\u2019s Creature Shop, particularly in feature films. Henson\u2019s own works, like The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986), are well represented, alongside titles to which the company has contributed all manner of lifelike animalia. I spy Duchess the cat from Babe (1995) and a pigeon from The Producers (2005). \u201cThirty-five years since Jim\u2019s passing,\u201d Slack-Smith says, \u201cthey\u2019re still this really dynamic, vibrant company doing incredible work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the animatronic specimens have been stripped back to expose wires, gears, levers and eyeballs; the sense of the uncanny can\u2019t be ignored (in abject contrast to the warm-fuzzy familiarity of Bert and Ernie). But in our current era of CGI screenscapes \u2013 increasingly diluted by AI corner-cutting \u2013 it\u2019s marvellous to look upon physical, material, tangible evidence of screen culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re living in a time when everything\u2019s slipping and sliding,\u201d Slack-Smith says. \u201cYou feel like you\u2019re in an ocean, the sand\u2019s coming out from under your feet, and you\u2019re just trying to work out what\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n
This renders Make, Believe, Magic much more than a simple nostalgia trip. It\u2019s a timely reminder that the most affecting art is made not by algorithm or prompt, but by human hand and heart.<\/p>\n
The Gobo Fraggle puppet from Fraggle Rock. Photograph: David Kelly\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Covering seven decades of the Jim Henson Company\u2019s output, the exhibition is definitely comprehensive. Unless your favourite Muppet is Angus McGonagle (the Argyle Gargoyle who gargles Gershwin gorgeously), you\u2019re highly likely to find them here \u2013 with a few exceptions.<\/p>\n
Some visitors may note the conspicuous absence of headlining Muppets including Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, and that eternal diva Miss Piggy. Since 2004, those characters have been owned by the Walt Disney Company, not the Jim Henson Company. Works by the latter are the clear curatorial focus here, though some select puppets \u2013 including the world\u2019s most famous frog \u2013 have made their way over from the House of Mouse.<\/p>\n
At the time of my visit, the Goma crew is busy putting the finishing touches on the show. The visiting puppet wranglers from Henson have worked their magic posing the characters and flown back to the US (boy, are their arms tired). Some of the lights are yet to be lit (or, rather, dimmed); the music is a symphony of drills, hammers and cherrypickers.<\/p>\n
But controlled chaos is the Muppet way: an eclectic team pitching in to get the curtain up on time. Slack-Smith, the Kermit of the crew, seems unfazed. \u201cI\u2019ve got a theatre background. So, for me, working with the crew and putting this together is fun, when you\u2019re running towards one creative outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
And despite the occasional ladder and drop sheet, her vision is clear: \u201cI want people to have a better understanding of puppeteering, of character and performance \u2013 but also to embrace the joy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s said that celebrities are often shorter than you might expect when you encounter them in person. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-888534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}