It was supposed to be a carefree day of music, art and dance, as thousands of young trance music fans gathered in Re’im, Israel, at the Nova Music Festival. But on the morning of Oct. 7, the dance music event became the site of a massacre as Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and the festival, which was just a couple of miles away from the Gaza border.
Among the 1,200 lives lost that day in Israel were about 370 festival attendees, while another 44 people were abducted from the desert event. Videos of that attack show young people running for their lives, being abducted and hiding as terrorists mercilessly shot at them.
Now, in remembrance of that brutal day and using items left behind at the festival, a new exhibition dubbed “October 7th 06:29 AM — The Moment Music Stood Still,” comes to Los Angeles on Saturday, Aug. 17.
“I think people need to be made to feel, even for a moment, the special energy that was there,” said Reut Feingold, creator and director of the exhibition. “It’s not an immersive experience, it’s not an exhibition about Nova, it is Nova. It’s all authentic without the curations, without technology effects, it’s the truth, and in this case the truth is stronger than anything,” she added.
With the goal of putting visitors at the trance music festival, the exhibition aims to recreate the Novo grounds with remnants salvaged from the festival, including scorched cars, bullet-riddled bathroom stalls, and personal belongings like camping tents, folding chairs, coolers, backpacks, rings and shoes including sandals, sneakers and glitter boots left behind.
“Every person whose heart is in the right place shares the same feelings that we all feel since Oct. 7. To touch all those items, to smell it, it’s so emotional,” Feingold said.
The exhibit made its debut during a 10-week run in Tel Aviv. It was followed by a two-month run in New York before coming to Los Angeles.
It begins with videos of festival goers dancing just before the attack. It then moves into a room where visitors will see items left behind by the victims as well as a campground where they slept during the multiday festival. There’s another spot where the festival’s main stage and bar are recreated as a soundtrack of trance music plays.
“The exhibition is a journey, a very authentic and difficult journey, that begins with getting to know the values of the community and the trance culture. It continues through that terrible day through testimonies, objects and videos in real time,” she said.
People will see burned-out cars, some upside down, and they will walk by TV screens showing videos taken by both the victims and the terrorists on that day.
“It broke everything I knew before. I’m the mother of children, I’m a proud Israeli citizen, proud of my values and my country’s values and it just broke everything we knew. It broke my heart,” Feingold said, referring to her reaction to the massacre at the festival.
While the journey through this exhibition isn’t easy, it ends with some healing at a commemoration room for the victims, a call for a release of the hostages still being held in Gaza and a “healing room,” which offers a calm space to reflect.
“The healing room represents the ‘we will dance again’ philosophy. I think the world needs to know that Nova is more than just a tragic tale, it’s a testimony of resilience,” Feingold said.
October 7th 06:29 AM — The Moment Music Stood Still
When: Opens Saturday, Aug. 17, no end date set yet
When: Address provided when tickets are purchased
Tickets: $8-$180
Information: novaexhibition.com
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