MoMA PS1 Warm Up 2026

Warm Up is MoMA PS1's summer music series in the museum's courtyard in Long Island City, a New York ritual for almost thirty years with lineups that have included Arca, SOPHIE, Solange, Jamie xx and Four Tet. For the 28th edition, part of PS1's 50th anniversary and built around experimental music, the museum asked SMLXL for the campaign identity.

The idea fits in one line: make the type dance to the music. Every letter of a heavy condensed sans gets its own gesture, sharp spikes on some, long fluid strokes on others, so a headline reads like the Warm Up crowd, where everyone moves their own way. Each artist on the lineup got a graphic built from their own music, the letters stretching to the rhythm and energy of the track.

In motion the type reacts to sound and can be played live from a MIDI controller; on paper the posters look caught mid-move. Lime, electric blue, plum and sand run across wild-posted walls around New York, Instagram stories for every artist, hand fans and keychains.

SMLXL: Lea Naisberg, Guillem Casasús, Javier Arizu, Lakis Sobyra, Anna Berbiela and Mireia Quincoces. MoMA PS1: Molly Kurzius, Jack Radley, Essie Lash, Allison Yoon, Mila Rae Mancuso, John Kim and Brian Tank. Photography by Marissa Alper, Noel Woodford and Ryan Muir.