MoMA PS1's courtyard in Long Island City has been reimagined as a two-year garden installation by artist and poet Precious Okoyomon. Titled Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation, the project blends sculpture, poetry, and landscape into a single immersive experience.
At the center of the work is The Pleasure Principle, a large teddy bear form that visitors can move through, turning the courtyard into a playful route of passage and discovery. Around it, vines and seasonal plantings such as passion flower, clematis, morning glory, and Queen Anne's Lace are already shaping the space, while trees and winter textures ensure the installation evolves across the year.
Okoyomon's practice often returns to childhood memory and the emotional life of objects, and this commission continues that approach through a mix of imagination, symbolism, and natural growth. The project also marks only the second two-year courtyard commission at MoMA PS1, following Yto Barrada's earlier installation.
By transforming a concrete museum edge into a changing garden, the work offers visitors a slower, more reflective way to experience contemporary art. It suggests that future public art may increasingly merge ecology, storytelling, and participation in shared urban spaces.
