Artist and poet Precious Okoyomon (Nigerian-American, b. 1993) will transform the MoMA PS1 courtyard into a living forest of plants, sculpture, and sound. Opening July 24, Among the flowers I learned to love, A Garden of decreation (2026) marks 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. On view for over two years, Okoyomon’s installation marks the inaugural work in MoMA PS1’s Courtyard Commission series, a site-specific, biannual program that invites artists to create new large-scale works that reimagine how experimental art can transform outdoor space. Accessible as part of MoMA PS1’s new free admission for all program, the installation invites audiences to experience MoMA PS1 in new ways throughout the year, including the summer music series Warm Up.
The installation features an evolving landscape of grasses, flowers, weeds, grafted trees, 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.
Courtyard Commission: Precious Okoyomon is organized by Ruba Katrib, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs.