For a band built on world building, mythology and blurring reality with fiction, Gorillaz turning their universe into a physical experience feels less like a side project and more like an inevitability.
After debuting in London last year, House Of Kong is officially heading stateside, the immersive exhibition will open inside Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Agger Fish Building on September 1st and run through September 28th, giving fans a chance to step directly into the animated world Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have spent 25 years constructing.
Described as an opportunity to “peek behind the curtain into the unseen world of Gorillaz”, the experience goes beyond a traditional exhibition format. Visitors move through an hour long journey exploring the history of the virtual band, including artwork, music, characters and the mythology surrounding Kong Studios (per NME).
Gorillaz universe
For longtime fans, it’s effectively the closest thing yet to entering the Gorillaz universe for real.
The New York run follows the original London installation, which formed part of the band’s 25th anniversary celebrations and expanded into a series of special live performances. During those shows, Gorillaz revisited landmark records including Gorillaz, Demon Days and Plastic Beach before unveiling new material during a phone-free mystery performance.
That material eventually evolved into The Mountain, the band’s ninth studio album released earlier this year through their KONG label. The record continued Gorillaz’ long running collaborative approach, featuring appearances from artists including Sparks, IDLES, Omar Souleyman and Johnny Marr, while also paying tribute to creative relationships that have shaped the band across different eras.
The timing of House Of Kong in New York also feels deliberate, The exhibition closes on September 28th, one day before Gorillaz bring The Mountain tour to Madison Square Garden.
Whether intentional or not, it creates the possibility for fans to turn late September into a full Gorillaz immersion weekend.
Tickets for House Of Kong go on sale June 30, with presale access available for eligible Kong Card holders.
For a band that never wanted to exist only inside the traditional boundaries of music, this might be their most ambitious world building project yet.
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