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Artifacts from the Israeli music festival attacked on Oct. 7 are in Boston. Here’s what you’ll see.
The exhibit hopes to prove that one day the surviving festival goers and impacted community members "will dance again."
Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on the Israeli music festival that sparked the latest Israel-Palestinian conflict.
To commemorate the 411 people who died and the 43 taken hostage, artifacts from the Nova Music Festival are on display in Boston until Oct. 21.
The exhibition is meant as a non-political retelling of the events of Oct. 7, 2023, calling the start of the attack at 6:29 a.m. “the moment music stood still.”
“The installation creates a sacred space echoing the weight of the victims’ and survivors’ memories, surrounded by remains salvaged from the festival grounds — scorched cars, bullet-riddled bathroom stalls, and personal belongings all left behind,” the website says. “This powerful installation invites visitors to immerse themselves and bear witness to the tragic events of October 7th and its aftermath.”
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Survivors of and family members of those who died at the Nova festival attacks are present at the exhibit daily to share their experience. On Tuesday, the exhibition at 307 Dorchester Ave. will host a panel of four survivors to commemorate the second anniversary.
One of the survivors and moderator of the panel, Noa Beer, told Boston.com the story of how she escaped the festival and saved three people the day after the attack.
Beer began working with the Nova Exhibition group one year ago after looking for a new purpose in life following the attack. “It gives me an outlet to my feelings and I say this every time I give a testimony: whenever I tell my story, I don’t have to carry it alone,” she said.
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“When people come here … they see that we are basically human beings, music lovers … and that this could have happened at Burning Man or Coachella. It just gives it that human side,” Beer added.
“The Nova exhibit forces us to face the darkness of terror, but the survivors of Nova and the community they have created also shine a light of healing, resilience, love, and joy,” Rabbi Marc Baker wrote in an email from the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, of which he is the president and CEO, on Monday.
The Nova Exhibition opens in Berlin on Oct. 7 and in Chicago on Nov. 4. So far, the exhibition has welcomed over 500,000 visitors during its stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Miami, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.
At each of the exhibits, visitors can join a plea for the safe return of hostages held by Hamas.
“With overwhelming attendance and heartfelt engagement, the Nova Exhibition has become a unifying space of memory and solidarity to ensure that the stories of October 7th are not forgotten, and that their legacy continues to inspire resilience and collective reflection worldwide,” the website states.
Beer encouraged people to visit the Nova Exhibition because “once we forget that this happened, it will just happen again.”
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Overall, the exhibition hopes to prove that “we will dance again.”
The exhibition will be at 307 Dorchester Ave. in Boston through Oct. 21. For tickets and information, visit novaexhibition.com.
