On Oct. 7, the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza, the Nova Music Festival Exhibition will open in Berlin as a memorial to the victims of the massacre at the rave of the same name. The touring exhibition, which has been set up in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto and other cities, has drawn more than half a million visitors so far, and this will be its debut in Europe.
The exhibition, titled “October 7, 6:29am — The Moment Music Stood Still,” will be displayed at Flughafen Tempelhof, an airport that was used by the Nazi regime and is now a public space. Just as in New York and in other cities, the exhibition includes an installation that immerses visitors in the festival set-up, as well as testimonies from both victims and survivors of the Hamas attack. It will also host survivors, including former hostages of Hamas, and a variety of speakers and panels. Proceeds will benefit the Tribe of Nova Foundation, a nonprofit organization set up to help survivors and their families.
The exhibition is supported by the city of Berlin, under the patronage of Mayor Kai Wegner, as well as Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer and Karin Prien, the Federal Minister for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It will also be funded by donations from a variety of companies and private individuals in the U.S. and Germany. (Disclosure: I helped with the fundraising efforts.) In Berlin, the Nova exhibition has significant support from the German music business, including the recording business association BVMI, the concert and event industry organization BDKV, the German PRO GEMA, and the neighboring rights group GVL.
“Berlin holds a profound historical significance for the Jewish people and for me personally — Berlin is my hometown,” Nova Music Festival founder and producer Ofir Amir said in a statement. “Presenting the Nova Exhibition here is a powerful and symbolic moment, a true full-circle experience. Born out of pain, memory, resilience, and hope, this exhibition carries an important message. Sharing it in Berlin is both meaningful and necessary.”
The Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival was the worst attack in history on a concert or music gathering. Out of about 3,000 festival attendees, 411 were murdered, hundreds were hurt and 44 were taken hostage in Gaza — 14 of whom are still there. The exhibition comes to Berlin as the war in Gaza grinds on, with a death toll estimated at more than 60,000.
A smaller version of the exhibition will open in Boston on Sept. 26, just under two weeks before it comes to Berlin. “The Nova Music Festival Exhibition is not just about Nova, it is Nova,” exhibition director Reut Feingold said in a statement. “It stands as a living testimony to the resilience of our community and the universal need to remember and heal. ‘We will dance again’ is a promise of hope that we carry forward together.”
