Performance and conversation with M. Carmen Lane, Sidra Leigh Bell, Sophia Parker and Mark Eric

On the opening night of UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe, audiences are invited into Irresistibly Alive, a rare and unreplicable performance conceived by artist M. Carmen Lane and choreographer Sidra Leigh Bell. Choreographed and performed in collaboration with dancer Sophia Halimah Parker in intricate costumes designed by Mark Eric, the work summons ancestral presence through movement, voice, and ritual.

Taking its title from Toni Morrison’s call “to be unstoppably, irresistibly alive,” the activation asks: what are the gestures of freedom? Within the larger meditation of UNBOUND on cosmology, memory, and Black speculative futures, this work becomes both anchor and catalyst—collapsing time and space into a moment of collective witness, where the body itself becomes a portal.

Following the invocation, the four collaborators—Lane, Bell, Parker, and Eric—will join in an intimate conversation about the making of the work and its place within the exhibition.

The performance is fleeting, yet its reverberations endure: costumes, film, and altar will remain in the gallery as offerings, echoing Yoruba Egungun regalia, where cloth and reflection keep ancestors near. A second, distinct iteration will take place in spring 2026.

(for C.R.M.)

Please note: the performance space is intimate, and seating will be on a first come, first served basis. This program is free and open to the public.