Courtyard Commission: Precious Okoyomon at MoMA PS1

MoMA PS1 in Long Island City has launched a new series, the Courtyard Commission, and its first artist is Precious Okoyomon. Born in 1993, Okoyomon is a Nigerian-American artist and poet. Their installation, Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation, opened July 31, 2026 and remains on view through 2028.

The Courtyard Commission is a site-specific program held every two years. Each edition invites an artist to make new large-scale work and to consider how experimental art can change an outdoor space. Okoyomon's garden is their largest outdoor installation to date.

The courtyard is planted as a woodland that keeps growing: grasses, flowers, weeds, sedges, vines and the pollinators that visit them. The planting deliberately gathers species often framed as opponents, though they share the same ground in practice. Native and invasive plants, annuals and perennials, cultivated and wild growth all sit side by side. Looking ahead to the landscapes of the near future and the unpredictability of climate change, Okoyomon proposes a garden for the city in which softness, rest and rebirth matter.

At the center stands an oversized teddy bear sculpture. Visitors can walk into it, climb through it and come out the other side. A sound piece fills the courtyard with playful instrumentation inspired by flowers, while poetry read by the artist plays inside the bear. Plants, sculpture, music and voice combine into one environment meant to be entered rather than viewed from a distance.

The project is organized by Ruba Katrib, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at MoMA PS1. Major support comes from Bloomberg Philanthropies, with generous support from VIA Art Fund and significant support from The Monica and Douglas Taylor Foundation and The Falls Foundation. Admission to MoMA PS1 is free, and the museum is at 22-25 Jackson Avenue. With the work on view for two years, the garden gives visitors a reason to return as the seasons change.