Presented as part of the States of Matter exhibition at Siren Arts, Romero will present a live performance that recontextualizes Francis Alÿs’ seminal 1997 work, Paradox of Praxis I (Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing). Where Alÿs originally pushed a heavy block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it melted into a faint trail of water, Romero's iteration infuses the act with contemporary political urgency. By explicitly tying the physical block of ice to the acronym ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the performance explores the chilling metaphors of institutional pressure, systemic erasure, and the melting away of human rights. As the block dissolves under the friction of the hot asphalt and the coastal air of Asbury Park, the act of pushing ice becomes a stark commentary on bureaucracy, borders, and the exhausting, invisible labor of survival within the diasporic experience.