Performed by and developed with Brock Bierly, Sharleen Chidiac, Keizo Fish, Rachel Jihye Han, Leah Hennessey, Laszlo Horvath, Liana Kurogi, Jurrell Lewis, Kara Lu, Emily Nunes, and Van To.
The latest iteration of the MOCA Focus series features the West Coast premiere of Diane Severin Nguyen’s new performance, WAR SONGS (2025/2026).
In her first live performance, Nguyen–together with Music Director Laszlo Horvath and a cast of ten performers–examines how images and media shape identity, power, and history. Debuting at the Performa 2025 Biennial in New York, the performance adopts the format of an anti–Vietnam War concert, reinterpreting protest music to explore how the aesthetic forms of past resistance movements generate cultural afterlives that continue to shape our contemporary moment.
By reworking anti-war anthems and populist folk songs, Nguyen refracts the sound of past resistance through the contemporary zeitgeist, questioning how nostalgia shapes current ideas of freedom, purity, and collective struggle.
Musical Director: Laszlo Horvath
Performers: Brock Bierly (Vocals and Drums); Sharleen Chidiac (Vocals and Guitar); Keizo Fish (Vocals and Keys); Leah Hennessey (Vocals and Guitar); Laszlo Horvath (Vocals and Guitar); Rachel Jihye Han (Vocals, Guitar, and Violin); Liana Kurogi (Vocals); Jurrell Lewis (Vocals); Kara Lu (Vocals and Drums); Emily Nunes (Vocals and Guitar); and Van To (Vocals and Guitar)
Studio Manager: Khanh Van Truong
Scenic Designer: Khanh Van Truong
Set Designer: Cherisse Gray
Lighting Designer: Sean Peloso
Costume Designer: Willa Schwabsky
Special Effects Engineer: Dearon Panossian
Production Assistant: Cléo Sươu’o’ng Mai Richez
MOCA Focus: Diane Severin Nguyen is accompanied by a Nimoy Emerging Artist Publication Series catalogue offering a multifaceted exploration of music and cultural memory.
Diane Severin Nguyen (b. 1991 Carson, CA; lives in New York) works with photography, video, installation, and performance. Through material and sculptural experimentation, Nguyen approaches the photographic moment as one of transformation. She is particularly interested in exceeding photography as a mode of documentation and engages with it rather as a set of conditions shaped by desire and speculation. Her moving image works examine the histories of power, victimhood, and forms of propaganda that underpin cultural and self-image making. Her recent solo and group exhibitions have taken place at the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, the Whitney Museum of American Art, SculptureCenter, The Renaissance Society, Rockbund Art Museum, MoMA PS1, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Schinkel Pavillon, Jeu de Paume, and the Hammer Museum, among others. Her films have been presented at prestigious film festivals, including the New York Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as Berlinale and Woche der Kritik. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023.
Laszlo Horvath (b. 1996, New York; lives in New York) is a composer and artist. He released his debut solo album, I Don’t Have That Problem, in January 2025, prior to which he fronted the band Laszlo and the Hidden Strength. His work has been exhibited locally and internationally, including the 2024 Prismatic Ground film festival and the 15th Baltic Triennial. He precomposed and live scored the performance work The Pig Trade at the library and project space EARTH this past summer.
MOCA Focus: Diane Severin Nguyen is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator, with Emilia Nicholson-Fajardo, Curatorial Assistant, and is produced by Amelia Charter, Producer of Performance and Programs with Michele Huizar, former Performance Coordinator, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Diane Severin Nguyen, WAR SONGS, was organized for the Performa 2025 Biennial by Job Piston, Curator-at-Large, with Madeleine Seidel, Assistant Curator, and was produced by Adrienne Swan, Producer, Performa.
Diane Severin Nguyen, WAR SONGS (2025/2026), is a Performa commission, co-commissioned by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Presenting support is provided by Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.
Major support is provided by the MOCA Global Council.
Publication support is provided by the Nimoy Fund for Emerging Artists.
This performance is made possible by generous endowment support from Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family, the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation Fund to Support the Work of Emerging Artists, and from The Director’s Commissioning Fund.
Performances at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Performance with generous funding provided by Betsy Greenberg and The Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund.
Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programs is founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family.
