Every autumn, sometime in November, the leaves fall off and the tree becomes a whispering tree. Rather than hang their wishes from the tree on small strips of paper, as they do during the warmer months, visitors are encouraged to snuggle up to the tree and whisper their wishes to it.
But, come June, the tree buds again and the Hirshhorn provides pencils and little tags to write with and to hang on the tree.
Each day exhibit staff and intern volunteers pluck the tags from the tree.
“We harvest the wishes and send them to the Yoko Ono Peace Tower in Iceland where they become part of a larger collection of wishes that the artist has amassed,” Hirshhorn communications director Gabriel Riera told me in an e-mail.
When You Wish Upon a Tree at the Hirshhorn | Around The Mall
