MoMA PS1 Inaugurates Courtyard Commission Program with Garden Installation by Precious Okoyomon

Installation view of Courtyard Commission: Precious Okoyomon. Courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: John Kim

Artist and poet Precious Okoyomon (Nigerian-American, b. 1993) has transformed the MoMA PS1 courtyard into a living forest of plants, sculpture, and sound. On view Now through 2028, Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation (2026) is Okoyomon’s largest outdoor installation to date and the first of its kind in New York City, featuring a wild garden that evolves with the seasons and a giant teddy bear sculpture that visitors can enter and climb through. The installation inaugurates MoMA PS1’s Courtyard Commission series, a new biannual program inviting artists to create site-specific, large-scale works for the museum’s outdoor courtyard, reimagining how experimental art can transform public space. Accessible as part of MoMA PS1’s new free admission for all program, the installation invites audiences to experience the museum in new ways year-round, including during the Warm Up summer music series (Fridays through August 28).

The installation features an evolving landscape of grasses, flowers, weeds, sedges, pollinators, and vines, developed in collaboration with specialty nursery issima and accompanied by a sound piece composed by Oliver Leith. The garden brings together species often viewed as oppositional, but which in reality can co-exist: native and invasive plants, annuals and perennials, cultivated and wild growth. Inspired by French philosopher Simone Weil’s concept of “decreation,” the continual making and unmaking of the world, the installation creates a space of exploration and rest that remains adaptable to changing conditions. Anticipating the landscapes of the near future, in consideration of the unpredictabilities of climate changes and other instabilities, Okoyomon proposes a garden of mutation and adaptability for the city. Its ever-adapting characteristics anchor viewers in the present while imagining the future, increasing sensitization to their surroundings through observation, time, and meandering.

At the center of the installation is a 25-foot-long teddy bear sculpture, titled The Pleasure Principle (2026). A recurring motif in Okoyomon’s work, the teddy bear invokes a wild animal culturally transformed into a toy, companion, or transitional object—here a nod to what the artist calls the“creature within us.” Visitors can climb up a set of stairs to enter through the bear’s rear, where theyexperience audio of Okoyomon reading their poetry. Visitors then exit the sculpture through a slide that leads out of the bear’s mouth.

“We are thrilled to launch our new Courtyard Commission series with Precious Okoyomon’s most ambitious work to date, extending their practice at a new scale with playfulness and philosophical depth,” said Ruba Katrib, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. “An ever-evolving site of recreation and rest, this installation will offer a welcoming and immersive green space for both museum visitors and the Long Island City community over the next two years.”

Precious Okoyomon (Nigerian-American, b. 1993) is a poet and artist. They have had one-person exhibitions at the LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland; the Museum Für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; Performance Space New York; the Aspen Art Museum; The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Madrid Foundation, Madrid, Spain; The Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Ithaca, New York; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria. They were included in the Baltic Triennial 13, Tallinn, Estonia; the 58th Belgrade Biennial, Serbia; the 59th Venice Biennale, Italy; the 2022 Okayama Art Summit, Japan; the 11th Sequences Biennial, Reykjavik, Iceland; the 2023 Thailand Biennial, Chiang Rai, as well as in group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK; LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany; LUMA Arles, France; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Nigerian Pavillion, 60th Venice Biennale, Italy; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland. Okoyomon’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum Für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany and LUMA Arles, France. Okoyomon was the 2021 recipient of the Frieze Art Fair Artist Award, as well as the 2021 Chanel Next Art Prize. In 2024, But Did You Die?, their second book of poetry, was co-published by the Serpentine and Wonder Press.

Courtyard Commission: Precious Okoyomon is organized by Ruba Katrib, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs.

SUPPORT

Major support is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Generous support is provided by VIA Art Fund.

Significant support is provided by The Monica and Douglas Taylor Foundation and The Falls Foundation.

ABOUT MoMA PS1

Inspired by daring artists, MoMA PS1 is committed to the exploration of contemporary art and culture, broadening perspectives on the issues of our day, and engaging New Yorkers and communities across the world. Founded in 1976, the institution was a defining force in the alternative space movement in New York City, transforming a nineteenth-century public schoolhouse in Long Island City into a site for artistic experimentation and creativity. PS1 has been a member of New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) since 1982 and affiliated with The Museum of Modern Art since 2000.

Directions: MoMA PS1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Ave in Long Island City, Queens, across the Queensboro Bridge from midtown Manhattan. Traveling by subway, take the E, F, or 7 to Court Sq; or the G to Court Sq or 21 St Van Alst. By bus, take the Q67 to Jackson and 46th Ave or the B62 to 46th Ave.

Admission: MoMA PS1 is a place for everyone. Free admission is made possible by Sonya Yu. Tickets may be reserved online at mo.ma/ps1tickets.

Information: For general inquiries, call (718) 784-2084 or visit moma.org/ps1.