Diane Severin Nguyen
20.03.2026
07.06.2026
IF REVOLUTION IS A SICKNESS
Diane Severin Nguyen is an American artist with Vietnamese roots. In her work she explores the inextricable relationship between popular culture and politics. Her work spans video, performance and photography, with striking images that are as seductive as they are unsettling.
IF REVOLUTION IS A SICKNESS is about finding your place in today's complex political world. It is conceived as an immersive video installation. In the video, we follow a Vietnamese-Polish girl in Warsaw as she navigates a world full of conflicting expectations. Nguyen’s critique of power, nationalism and cultural identity comes wrapped in the catchy and unmistakeable aesthetic of K-pop.
The photographs, carefully selected to contextualize the film, depict moments of emergence, when an identity, idea or revolution is forming.
Nguyen prompts us to reflect on what a revolution might mean today. Beyond the coming-of-age story, the work offers a keen observation of the world at present: a visual trip that invites the viewer to dance, but also to reflect on how young people shape their identities amid the relentless expectations of our complex world.
This is the internationally renowned artist’s first solo exhibition in Belgium. Nguyen's work has previously been exhibited at MEP, Paris, SculptureCenter, New York, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.