Gorillaz will bring House of Kong to New York this September, taking the band’s audio-visual exhibition format to the Agger Fish Building in Brooklyn for a limited residency.
The exhibition will run from 1 to 28 September 2026, following earlier presentations in London and Downtown Los Angeles. Developed in collaboration with Eleven Management, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, Stephen Gallagher, the creative director, is leading the project alongside his studio SWEAR.
For operators, promoters, landlords and brand experience teams, the New York run points to the growing value of music intellectual property as a driver for temporary physical experiences. Gorillaz has always operated across music, animation, visual culture and performance, giving House of Kong a strong foundation for a ticketed, multi-sensory format that sits outside a conventional concert or gallery model.
An Exhibition Built Around A Fictional Band World
House of Kong explores the visual and narrative universe of Gorillaz, including the characters Murdoc Niccals, 2D, Russel Hobbs and Noodle. The exhibition uses the band’s fictional setting, archive, animation language and music history to create a structured experience around its past and future direction.
The format is not being positioned as a standard retrospective. Instead, it functions as an installation shaped by sound, image, character and story. For experience designers, this distinction is important. Music-led exhibitions can often rely heavily on memorabilia, but House of Kong has a deeper pool of animated world-building, fictional biography and cross-platform content to draw from.
That gives the production team room to build an environment that can attract music fans, design audiences and visitors interested in contemporary media culture. It also gives venue partners a programme that can connect live entertainment, exhibition design and fan economy activity within a single residency.
Strategic Timing Around Touring Activity
The New York opening has been scheduled shortly before Gorillaz begin a 22-date North American tour in 2026. The exhibition closes on 28 September, the same date the band is set to perform at Madison Square Garden.
This timing gives the residency strategic value. It places House of Kong within the wider campaign around the tour, creating a physical extension of the band’s presence in the city before a major arena date. For promoters and IP owners, this type of sequencing can support fan engagement, press activity, merchandise potential and destination-based spending around live music events.
It also shows how temporary exhibitions can be used as part of a wider entertainment rollout. Rather than treating a tour and an exhibition as separate products, the model links them into a broader cultural moment across multiple venues and formats.
Value For Experience Producers And Venues
The Brooklyn residency will operate daily from 10 am to 10 pm, with final entry at 8.30 pm and an earlier closing time on the final day. Tickets are being sold in advance, with a dedicated presale for Kong Card holders before general availability.
For the visitor experience sector, House of Kong is a useful case study in how established music brands can move into exhibition-led programming. The project combines scarcity, fandom, visual identity and touring momentum, all of which can support strong demand in a limited-run model.
For venues, the format underlines the potential of adaptable buildings that can host media-rich installations tied to entertainment IP. For rights holders, it shows how a well-developed fictional universe can create commercial value beyond recordings and live performance.
As music brands continue to seek new physical formats, House of Kong’s New York residency demonstrates how character-led storytelling, production design and event timing can turn a band identity into a wider cultural experience.
