The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents an exhibit titled “The Magic Medium” running through February in the Hammer Building.

In 1839, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre announced the first permanent photographic process. Exposed in the dark, developed by the vapor of mercury, and stilled on a sheet of silver-coated copper, the daguerreotype could seemingly turn fleeting experiences into tangible objects.

Using magic as its entry point, this installation investigates the ways in which photographers have manipulated the medium purported to be “reality’s mirror.” Like magicians, they incite wonder in their audience — by isolating chance encounters, evoking a sense of the extraordinary in ordinary subjects and by constructing convincing illusions.

Spanning 150 years, the installation includes daguerreotypes from LACMA’s permanent collection and works by Eugène Atget, Matthew Brandt, Jo Ann Callis, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harold Edgerton, William Eggleston, Matt Lipp and Nic Nicosia, among others.

LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd. For information, call (323)857-6000, or visit www.lacma.org.