Feature

Precious Okoyomon’s new work transforms the concrete corner of the museum courtyard into a place of joy, exploration, and, dare I say, tranquility.

Precious Okoyomon in front of "The Pleasure Principle" (2026) at MoMA PS1 (all photos Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)

In the famously barren courtyard of MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, a garden for the next two years has been planted. Created by artist and poet Precious Okoyomon, the elaborate installation invites us to approach a giant teddy bear’s butt and slide through its core to exit through the mouth, like a tongue. 

“The rectum isn’t a grave, it’s just a portal,” the artist told me during the press event that took place during an overcast Wednesday sprinkled with drizzle. Their statement riffs on Leo Bersani’s 1987 seminal queer theory essay “Is the Rectum a Grave?”

• Feature
• MoMA PS1
• Precious Okoyomon
• New York