Janine Antoni & Stephen Petronio: Honey Baby

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The fourteen-minute video brings its subject incrementally closer until a collapse of space presses the viewer up against the body. The sound of the video is interpretation of what the baby would hear in utero. Honey Baby reveals a uniquely sensual relationship between subject and host. 

Viscous golden honey coats the nude male body, referencing amniotic fluid. In a mesmerizing expression of slow transformation, the body glides and revolves. The viewer’s gradually increasing physical intimacy with the body invites reflection on notions of birth, embodiment, movement, and eroticism.

Blurring the lines between their respective fields and roles of sculptor, performer, and choreographer, the artists collaborated on all aspects of the project. Together, they designed the environment in which the performer writhes, creating a link between the body and its container and simultaneously drawing the viewer into the womb. Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson worked with the artists to create the final video, using unconventional camera angles to create a feeling of weightlessness. Composer Tom Laurie created audio meant to echo the sounds a developing infant may hear in utero. Originally exhibited as part of Antoni’s 2013 exhibition Within at Mattress Factory, Honey Baby is the artists’ first collaboration in video. The work continues themes explored in their first stage work collaboration, Like Lazarus Did, 2013, in which the final dance, Trevor, was inspired by shapes found in sonograms. Both works are performed by Nicholas Sciscione, a member of the Stephen Petronio Dance Company.