BEHIND THE STITCH: ALANI
June 21, 2024
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Art doesn’t always ask you to stand back and observe. Sometimes it invites you to climb inside.
That’s exactly what Precious Okoyomon MoMA PS1 installation offers. Titled Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation, the large-scale outdoor commission transforms the museum’s courtyard into an evolving landscape where sculpture, ecology, poetry and play exist side by side.
At the heart of the installation sits a towering 25-foot teddy bear complete with a blood-red slide running through its body, surrounded by a flourishing ecosystem of more than 1,500 plants that will continue to grow and change over the next two years.
More than a traditional exhibition, the project blurs the boundaries between contemporary art, environmental design and public space.
Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation marks the inaugural edition of MoMA PS1’s Courtyard Commission, a new initiative inviting artists to transform the museum’s outdoor courtyard into immersive public artworks.
Rather than creating a static sculpture, Okoyomon designed an environment that will continuously evolve as plants mature, seasons shift and wildlife naturally interacts with the landscape.
The installation is expected to remain on view through 2028, making it one of the museum’s longest-running public art projects.
The installation’s unmistakable centerpiece is The Pleasure Principle, a giant teddy bear stretching approximately 25 feet long.
Visitors are encouraged to climb inside the sculpture before sliding down a dramatic blood-red slide that exits through the bear’s mouth. Throughout the experience, recordings of Okoyomon reading their own poetry play from within the sculpture, creating an intimate encounter that combines childhood nostalgia with surreal storytelling.
The teddy bear continues a recurring motif throughout Okoyomon’s artistic practice, exploring ideas of comfort, vulnerability and transformation.
Unlike traditional sculptures, the installation is alive.
Developed alongside Rhode Island nursery issima, the courtyard features over 1,500 perennials, grasses, vines, trees and flowering plants, intentionally mixing native and invasive species within the same environment.
Butterflies, bees and other pollinators are encouraged to inhabit the space, allowing nature itself to become part of the artwork. As the ecosystem changes over time, no two visits to the installation will be exactly alike.
The project takes its conceptual foundation from French philosopher Simone Weil’s idea of “decreation”—the continual process of making, unmaking and rebuilding the world.
Rather than presenting nature as something fixed, Okoyomon embraces constant transformation. Plants grow, disappear, compete and regenerate, reflecting broader conversations around climate change, resilience, coexistence and ecological adaptation within urban environments.
The installation extends beyond what visitors can see.
British composer Oliver Leith created an ambient soundscape that drifts throughout the garden, while Okoyomon’s poetry can be heard from inside the teddy bear sculpture.
Together, the layered audio transforms the courtyard into a multisensory experience where movement, sound and nature interact continuously.
The garden will also serve as a venue for museum programming, including MoMA PS1’s popular Warm Up music series and other public events.
Born in London in 1993 to Nigerian parents, Precious Okoyomon is a Nigerian-American artist and poet whose work combines sculpture, ecology, literature and performance.
Growing up between Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States, Okoyomon developed a deep connection to gardening through their grandmother, whose work preserving seeds helped shape the artist’s understanding of nature as both memory and resistance.
Over the past decade, Okoyomon has become one of contemporary art’s most exciting voices, exhibiting internationally at institutions including the Venice Biennale, Aspen Art Museum, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt and the Whitney Biennial.
Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation is currently open to the public at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, New York.
Visitors can experience the installation free of charge as part of the museum’s public courtyard programming, with the living artwork remaining on display through 2028.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Artist | Precious Okoyomon |
| Installation | Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation |
| Location | MoMA PS1, Queens, New York |
| Main Attraction | 25-foot teddy bear slide (“The Pleasure Principle”) |
| Botanical Installation | 1,500+ plants and living ecosystem |
| Sound Design | Oliver Leith |
| Duration | July 31, 2026 – 2028 |
| Admission | Free |
The Precious Okoyomon MoMA PS1 installation reimagines what public art can be. Rather than separating visitors from the artwork, it encourages participation through movement, sound and exploration, creating a space that feels equally like a sculpture, a botanical garden and a playground.
With its towering teddy bear, living forest and evolving ecosystem, Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation stands as one of the most ambitious contemporary art installations of 2026—one that will continue changing long after opening day, reminding visitors that nature and creativity are never truly finished.
