Ola Niepsuj

Commissioned by MoMA Warsaw (MSN) and written by art historian Katarzyna Witt, Po co nam sztuka? (What is Art For?) was created to make the “difficult” language of contemporary art accessible to children aged 6 to 12. Rather than a gallery of final answers, the book treats art as a playground for questions.

Across 140 pages, the visual story is led by five iconic museum artworks reimagined as “roommates”: The Black Sphere, The Blue Snowman, The Pink Lazy Rope, The Yellow Palm & The Red Night Moth. By simplifying these complex museum objects into primary, playful shapes, I wanted to create a welcoming entry point for young readers. These characters guide children through five color-coded chapters, combining a visual atlas with creative prompts and “to-do” tasks that encourage them to embrace the process of making.The artistic process was a hybrid of methods: life drawing within the museum collection, archival cut-outs, and digital photo-collages. This mix of precision and textures reflects the different ways we perceive art.

Even the physical object is a nod to the museum’s own bones. We chose a paper with a raw, flinty texture that mimics the building’s concrete architecture, turning the book into a piece of the museum you can take home. Printed in vibrant Pantone shades for a sharp, graphic punch, and designed alongside Olek Modzelewski, the project is a quiet rebellion against the “do not touch” ethos of modern art. It’s an invitation for the next generation to realize that art isn’t something to be solved, but something to live with.