OKOYOMON'S MOMA PS1 BEAR LETS VISITORS CLIMB INSIDE
Precious Okoyomon's Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation is the first MoMA PS1 Courtyard Commission and her largest outdoor installation to date. Visitors climb through a bear sculpture among about 1,500 plants, and the work is on view through 2028.
Key Points
- A bear sculpture visitors enter by staircase and exit through its mouth
- About 1,500 perennials and other plants, native and invasive together
- First MoMA PS1 Courtyard Commission, on view through 2028
Precious Okoyomon's "Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation" turns the MoMA PS1 courtyard into a living installation that visitors walk through. The centerpiece is a bear, and the work is on view in the courtyard through 2028.
MoMA PS1 introduces it with a line credited to devilintraining, "The body is pinned to the sky in blue, reborn in this energy, caught and released", and invites visitors to take a trip inside the bear.
Visitors Climb a Staircase Built Into the Bear's Back
Entry is through the rear of the bear sculpture, where a staircase leads up before visitors slide through its body. Glowing lights guide the way while Okoyomon's poetry fills the interior, and visitors leave through the bear's mouth. MoMA PS1 says visitors may hear swells of sound, laughter and verse poetry on the way through.
About 1,500 Plants, Native and Invasive Side by Side
The installation includes about 1,500 perennials and other plants, a changing landscape of grasses, flowers, sedges and vines with pollinators among them. Native and invasive species are placed next to each other on purpose.
Simone Weil Gave the Work Its Word
Okoyomon built the garden around philosopher Simone Weil's idea of decreation, which treats undoing and relinquishment as an alternative to creation as an assertion of individual power. It is the first installation in MoMA PS1's new Courtyard Commission program and Okoyomon's largest outdoor installation to date. It opened July 31, 2026, and stays on view through 2028.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is Precious Okoyomon's installation on view at MoMA PS1?
Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation is on view in the MoMA PS1 courtyard through 2028.
What is inside Precious Okoyomon's bear sculpture at MoMA PS1?
Visitors climb a staircase in the bear's rear, slide through its body guided by glowing lights while Okoyomon's poetry plays, and exit through its mouth.
What is decreation in Precious Okoyomon's MoMA PS1 garden?
The garden is informed by Simone Weil's concept of decreation, which treats undoing and relinquishment as an alternative to creation as an assertion of individual power.
Topics: queens, sculpture, precious-okoyomon, contemporary-art, simone-weil, moma, decreation, culture, moma ps1, installation, moma-ps1, courtyard-commission