There are burned-out cars, abandoned camping tents and lounge chairs, clothing riddled with bullet holes, cell phones, empty water bottles, intimate personal items like bras and underwear, guitars, and porta potties covered in bullet holes — all left behind as Hamas terrorist ambushed innocent civilians at a music festival.
As the sun was rising on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists launched rockets and breached the Israel-Gaza border at multiple locations, disrupting the open-air trance Nova Music Festival in the Negev Desert. A massacre ensued. Terrorists gunned down, abducted, and brutally raped partygoers. Bodies were burned and mutilated. Those who were able to escape ran through the fields or played dead in the bushes for hours.
On that Saturday, 1,200 people died from the terrorist attacks inside southern Israel — among them nearly 400 festivalgoers — and 251 people were taken hostage, 44 of whom attended the festival.
"The Nova Music Festival Exhibition: Oct 7 6:29 a.m. — The Moment Music Stood Still" provides a glimpse of what transpired on that tragic day when so many young, innocent lives were lost. After stints in Tel Aviv, New York City, and Los Angeles, the commemorative installation is officially on display in North Miami. "The installation creates a sacred space echoing the weight of the victims' memories, surrounded by remains salvaged from the festival grounds," a description of the exhibit reads. "Beyond the brutality and evil that occurred on October 7, the exhibition will capture the enduring spirit of the Tribe of Nova with the installation of the healing room."
New Times was invited alongside other media outlets to get a first look at the exhibit, which will run through mid-February.
Raz Malka, a 28-year-old Nova Music Festival producer and survivor, tells New Times that no one should experience the horror he witnessed that day. In the week following the massacre, he attended 15 funerals. Before that week, he had never been to a funeral before.
"I still remember myself inside the horror movie," he says.
The exhibit transports attendees to the festival site — a peaceful celebration interrupted by horror.
There are signs for plastic and garbage that were used at the festival. Trees stand throughout the space with personal belongings hanging from their limbs. Campgrounds are re-created with open abandoned tents, personal objects, chairs, and blankets. The festival's market and stage are re-created. The bar stands with its empty bottles all over it, but now, there are stickers commemorating those who were murdered.
The exhibit re-creates the campsites that were abandoned when the attack began just after sunrise on October 7, 2023.
Photo by Naomi Feinstein
Throughout the exhibit, there are screens — some show people dancing, filled with joy, listening to music. But as the attack begins, screens show terrorists hunting down festivalgoers and celebrating the murders. Other screens display testimonials from survivors and family members of the murdered. First responders also describe the mutilated bodies they recovered.
Other parts of the space feature the burned-out cars of partygoers and a re-creation of the public bomb shelter in which people were slaughtered while they tried to evade the terrorists.
Another room at the exhibit is the "Lost and Found," where three tables are covered in personal items left behind: dusty shoes, backpacks, purses, water bottles, phone cases, deodorant, and sunglasses, among dozens of other objects. The display is eerily reminiscent of the display at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust Memorial Museum in Poland, which displays all of the thousands of shoes belonging to the victims murdered at the concentration camp.
Some of the personal items that were recovered in the days after the attack at the Nova Music Festival
Photo by Naomi Feinstein
The exhibit ends with the "Healing Room," where attendees can learn about the efforts to help survivors and commemoration events following the massacre.
Immediately following October 7, Malka decided to leave his job and dedicate his life to helping survivors with recovery by creating the Tribe of Nova Foundation alongside other producers of the festival.
"It's so important to not forget what happened there," Malka tells New Times. "I'm sure what you saw inside of the exhibit will stay in your mind, and it's so important that every one of us shares it because it will not happen again. Never. No one deserves something like this. I don't even want my enemies to lose so many friends in one day. It's not fair. It's so not fair.
"You will never realize what it is to run away from terrorists. You and your friend are falling down, and you have to keep running because if you're staying with him, you're joining. It's crazy. It's invented in a movie." A neon sign reads, "WE WILL DANCE AGAIN" at the center of the healing room — a mantra that represents hope and resilience for the Jewish community.
"The best way to beat evil is with a big light," Malka adds.
"The Nova Music Festival Exhibition: Oct 7 6:29 a.m. — The Moment Music Stood Still." On view through Saturday, February 15, at 12100 NE 16th Ave., North Miami; novaexhibition.com. Tickets cost $18. Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
