Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Ai Weiwei: According to What?

This major solo exhibition of works by Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei introduces viewers to his broad spectrum of artistic practice.

October 7, 2012 – February 24, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Antonio Rovaldi

View The Opening Day, a video installation by Antonio Rovaldi, and become part of whatever destructive game is being played.

July 6, 2012 – January 13, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Dark Matters: Selections from the Collection

Dark Matters brings together works from the Hirshhorn’s collection that draw upon the associations and implications of darkness. The meanings of darkness are many, and throughout this exhibition, seeing in the dark involves questioning what you see.

February 3, 2012 – January 6, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Jeroen Eisinga

Watch Jeroen Eisinga's Springtime (2009–11), in which he is enveloped by bees.

June 28, 2012 – October 14, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space

The international light-and-space art movement of the mid- and late 20th century is explored through large-scale installations by five South American artists.

February 23, 2012 – August 12, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Doug Aitken: Song 1

View this truly original cutting-edge time-based media installation created by internationally renowned artist Doug Aitken. It is the first of its kind ever in Washington, D.C., and takes public art in the city to a new level of visibility.

March 22, 2012 – May 20, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Ali Kazma

See clerks stamping documents at breakneck speed in O.K., Ali Kazma's U.S. museum debut.

December 19, 2011 – May 13, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Empire³

Three time-based media responses to the Empire State Building in New York City by Andy Warhol, Douglas Gordon, and Wolfgang Staehle are presented.

November 10, 2011 – March 25, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Andy Warhol: Shadows

Take this rare opportunity to see Andy Warhol's Shadows—102 large paintings extending almost 450 linear feet—in its entirety.

September 25, 2011 – January 15, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

ColorForms

On view are artworks from the Hirshhorn's collection, dating from the postwar era to the present, that explore the ways in which color has been an essential tool for artists, regardless of medium.

March 11, 2010 – January 2, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Nira Pereg

See Nira Pereg's video 67 Bows that was inspired by a visit to the Karlsruhe Zoo in Germany and features a flock of flamingos.

August 22, 2011 – December 4, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Grazia Toderi

Using computer animation to manipulate her images, Italian artist Grazia Toderi creates video projections that are like frescoes of light.

April 21, 2011 – October 23, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Fragments in Time and Space

View a selection of works that demonstrate the diverse ways artists have conceptualized, employed, and manipulated time and space.

June 23, 2011 – August 28, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Laurent Grasso

See two of Laurent Grasso's video works that depict strange interfaces between the natural world and humankind.

April 4, 2011 – August 14, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964-1977

This exhibition is the first survey of artworks in the United States by postwar German painter Blinky Palermo.

February 24, 2011 – May 15, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Hans Op de Beeck

See Hans Op de Beeck's film Staging Silence with dreamlike black-and-white scenes evoking vintage film and the suspense of film noire.

December 6, 2010 – March 27, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Cyprien Gaillard and Mario Garcia Torres

Brought together for the first time for a Directions project are two artists who examine the architectural and artistic "ruins" of the recent past.

November 10, 2010 – March 27, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Guillermo Kuitca: Everything—Paintings and Works on Paper, 1980-2008

This retrospective examines over two decades of Argentinean Guillermo Kuitca's artworks.

October 21, 2010 – January 16, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Superflex

The Black Box theater showcases rotating exhibitions of contemporary artists who use film or video as their creative medium. Currently on view is Superflex's Flooded McDonald's.

August 9, 2010 – November 28, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Pipilotti Rist

This film Pepperminta, shown on selected days, features the Swiss artist Rist's phantasmagorical adult fairy tale about the power of color.

October 14, 2010 – October 28, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum

Outdoor Installation: UP7TH

The Hirshhorn Museum debuts new works by animator David Polonsky.

October 2, 2009 – September 17, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum

Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers

The first American retrospective in nearly 30 years of this highly influential French artist's career examines his life and work.

May 20, 2010 – September 12, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Chris Chong Chan Fui

Chris Chong Chan Fui (b. 1982, Borneo, Malaysia) lives and works in Kuala Lumpur and is the first Malaysian artist to present work at the Hirshhorn.

April 19, 2010 – August 1, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: John Gerrard

This exhibition features works by Irish artist John Gerrard (b. 1974, Dublin) who photographed actual sites of farms and oil fields from 360 degrees and then simulated cinematic movement around the sites using the computer, complete with shifting, natural lighting effects.

November 5, 2009 – May 31, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum

Black Box: Phoebe Greenberg

Curator and arts advocate Phoebe Greenberg worked with Caroline Binet, Denis Villeneuve, Jacques Davidts, and a feature film-style team to bring this part dream, part morality tale scenario to life.

November 30, 2009 – April 11, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum