MoMA Turns Groceries into Art with Playful Faux-Food Pop-Up

MoMA is turning grocery shopping into conceptual play this winter with MoMA Mart, a faux-food pop-up at its Design Store locations in New York City. From January 7 to March 29, 2026, shelves in SoHo and Midtown will be lined not with edible goods but with design objects that look uncannily like everyday food, inspired by artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Ed Ruscha. Shoppers can pick up tomato-shaped table lamps, sandwich and pizza clocks, food-themed vases, stools and sculptural salt-and-pepper shakers, all blurring the line between art, humor and domestic utility.​

The supermarket-style installation invites visitors to “feast with their eyes” and explore how contemporary designers use food forms to comment on culture and daily life. As Emmanuel Plat, Director of Merchandising at MoMA, notes, the project continues the museum’s long-standing interest in faux-food objects that straddle function and illusion. All items are available in-store and online, with proceeds supporting MoMA’s exhibitions and educational programs—making this tongue-in-cheek shopping spree a form of cultural philanthropy as well.