December 22, 2008-April 12, 2009:
Ori Gersht (b. 1967, Tel Aviv), who currently lives and works in London, is noted for his series of large-scale photographs and arresting moving-image pieces. His work encourages viewers to reflect on the power of natural beauty and how it is affected by human intervention, such as the following film:
• The Forest (2006): The artist uses the camera to pan a lush, primeval forest located in the Moskalova woods that span Poland and the Ukraine, a site that has personal meaning for him. Sound alternates with silence and suddenly a tree falls to the ground with a thunderous echo. Who or what is causing the tree to fall? Is this a statement about nature and inevitability? Or is it an exercise in anticipation?

Also, included are two other works that reference traditional Spanish and Dutch still-life paintings in which precise arrangements of foods, fruits or flowers, are shown at their peak, implying the inevitably of decay. Gersht's imagery does not decay by dissolving over time; it combusts, and then in slow motion, recalls the time-lapse imagery of Harold Edgerton's scientific action photography as seen in the following works:
• Pomegranate (2006) is shown on a flat-screen located next to the entrance of the Black Box Theater.
• Big Bang II (2006) is a recent acquisition on view on the 3rd floor.

The Panza Collection highlights an exceptional selection of 39 conceptual, light and space, and environmental works that the Hirshhorn recently acquired from Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, whose collection of contemporary American and European art is hailed internationally. The majority of works date to the late 1960s and early 1970s. The acquisition encompasses the work of Robert Barry, Larry Bell, Hanne Darboven, Jan Dibbets, Hamish Fulton, Douglas Huebler, Robert Irwin, Joseph Kosuth, On Kawara, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Bruce Nauman, Richard Nonas, Roman Opalka, Lawrence Weiner, and Doug Wheeler.

Note: Ways of Seeing closed a few days earlier on January 7, 2009.
Ways of Seeing: Giuseppe and Giovanna Panza organized by Dr. Panza and his wife Giovanna are on view in the adjacent galleries. It is the second installment in the Hirshhorn's ongoing series Ways of Seeing, in which the Hirshhorn invites noted artists, collectors, filmmakers, and others to explore the museum's holdings of nearly 12,000 artworks and create installations that reflect their own unique perspectives and encourage new ways of looking at the collection.