Jennifer Rubell


I had conceptualized a completely different piece for Art Basel Miami. Then I found out I was pregnant, which got me thinking about the passive parts of the creative act: the waiting, the receiving, the miracle of something happening while we're all just going about our daily lives. The title of this work is Incubation. It draws a strong link between the creation of art, the creation of food, and the creation of life. I wanted to make something that casts passivity in a heroic light.

Nurses pour milk into jars and place them in incubators, where they sit undisturbed for twelve hours. The nurses then place them in refrigerators and, when they are chilled, pass them through a slot to viewers. The viewers remove the caps and hold the yogurt jars under a single, wind-blown stream of honey dripping from ten feet above, attempting to get the honey into the jars, but just as frequently getting honey on their hands and arms. They then eat the honey yogurt.