Viennese Duo Transforms Food into Provocative Art and Exploration

Sonja Stummerer and Martin Hablesreiter have created striking imagery by posing nude among scattered groceries and have donned everything from formal attire to surgical uniforms while navigating fields with shopping carts. Their performances include extracting appetizers directly from soil and adorning their faces with cucumber peelings. In one memorable scene, they crushed vegetables beneath their feet in a barn while sharing Wiener schnitzel, exchanging deadpan glances that acknowledged the unexpected delight of their unconventional meal.

This married pair, based in Vienna, operate under the moniker honey & bunny—a name chosen without assigning individual roles. For twenty years, they have blended art and research to question the structures and conventions guiding food consumption. Their work spans performances, installations, lectures, workshops, films, photography, and publications, all aimed at exploring how our eating habits impact both our health and the environment.

A central theme in their projects revolves around the provocative inquiry: "Is it unethical to play with your food?"

From Cape Town to Brooklyn, the duo has dissected sandwiches with scalpels and transformed pickled vegetables into bingo game pieces. Recently, an exhibition featuring photographs and videos from their latest culinary experiments debuted at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Rome, running through mid-July. Upcoming engagements are planned in Sweden, Germany, and as far as China, where they may invite audiences to dine on edible soil in trench-like settings.

In a series of video interviews, Stummerer described honey & bunny as perpetually receptive to inspiration—even during casual walks through Vienna’s markets. When a novel idea to transform food into an educational spectacle emerges, one partner often turns to the other with a playful challenge: "Isn't that wild? Let's make it happen."

The couple resides and works in a 1910s apartment building nestled on a quiet street in northwest Vienna, adjacent to hospital complexes. The building is historically notable for having housed patrons of the artist Egon Schiele during the belle époque. Their home doubles as a creative workshop, packed with props and costumes, including medical supplies generously provided by nearby hospital staff.