Monika Sosnowska studied painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Poznan, then at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam (1999-2000). At the start of her career, she was interested in the arrangement of her canvasses in space but abandoned painting for architecture, sculpture and the investigation of space itself. Her sculpted works take their reference from architecture, questioning the art of construction and the possibility of ruin – both its vernacular and its industrial aspects. She is attracted by constructions that express their physical, social and psychological functions, but also those that are ideological and political. Inspired by different stages of modernism and by the radical utilisations of buildings during the communist period, Sosnowska considers architecture a utopia or vision. Her installations apply formal structure to existing spaces, which has prompted comparisons with the work of Kurt Schwitters, such as Merzbau (1923-36).

Her installations sometimes require the creation of holes in the walls or ceiling of the existing architecture. Monika Sosnowska represented Poland at the 2007 Venice Biennale, and her works are included in many collections. For some years, she has focused her attention on conceptions of exhibition space in Eastern Europe during the communist period, as evinced, for example, by the installation that structured the narration of her exhibition Promises of the Past (2010-11).