States of Matter
States of Matter, a sound and sculptural installation by Philadelphia-based artist Raúl Romero, was presented by Transformer’s Siren Arts program in Asbury Park, NJ, July 15 – August 20, 2026. The site-specific exhibition also served as the inspiration for Siren Arts’ 10th Annual Summer Artist Residency Program & Public Performance Art Series, with Wednesday evening artist talks at Siren Arts and Thursday evening performances on Asbury Park’s 2nd Avenue Beach.
Dissolving ICE: The Labor of Melting
Photos by: Sara Stadtmiller
As part of the States of Matter exhibition at Siren Arts, Romero presented 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.
Learn More Siren Arts, Asbury Park · 2026
States of Matter
Place-making with sound and sculpture
Sound ~ ENERGY~ Transmission~
ABOUT
Raúl Romero is a Philadelphia-based sculptor and sound artist and a 2024 Pew Fellow.
He works in steel, copper, and live signal across sculpture, sound installation, and performance.
He earned an MFA from the Yale School of Art.