London Edition of Nova Exhibition Opens in Shoreditch, Survivors Appeal to Doubters to Witness Evidence

A London edition of The Nova Exhibition opened on 19 May 2026 at 30 Curtain Road in Shoreditch, east London, bringing first-hand testimony, witness phone footage and physical remnants from the 7 October 2023 attack on the Nova music festival to audiences in the United Kingdom.

The Details

The exhibition presents first-hand witness phone footage that was recorded during the Hamas-led assault on the Nova music festival, offering visitors direct visual documentation of the events as they unfolded on 7 October 2023. Alongside the footage, the display includes bullet-riddled structures and porta-loos that were recovered from the festival site, preserving the physical damage inflicted during the attack and presenting visitors with tangible evidence of the violence that took place.

In-person testimonies form a central component of the exhibition, delivered by survivors, returned hostages and bereaved families who experienced the attack firsthand and are now sharing their accounts with audiences in London. The first-hand witness phone footage provides visual documentation captured by individuals who were present during the assault, complementing the physical remnants and spoken testimonies that make up the exhibition.

The Jewish News described the exhibition as an immersive travelling display that recreates elements of the festival site and its aftermath for visitors in east London. This London edition extends a memorial project that has travelled to other locations, bringing the same format of physical evidence and live testimony to a new city.

The Guardian reported that the exhibition is intended as a commemoration with a specific purpose: to confront people who deny the gravity of the Nova atrocity. Speaking in coverage of the opening, survivor Elkana Bohbot issued a direct appeal to doubters, saying: "Come in for one minute."

The Jewish Chronicle reported ahead of the opening that proceeds from the London exhibition would be directed toward supporting the healing journey of Nova festival survivors and bereaved families. This creates a direct link between public attendance and support for those most affected by the attack.

The official exhibition site operates a timed-entry ticketing system and issues explicit content warnings for gunshots, shouts, flickering lights, difficult visual material and survivor testimony. These warnings signal the immersive and potentially disturbing nature of the experience, which includes raw footage and personal accounts of the atrocity.

Context

The attack on the Nova music festival occurred during the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 assault on Israel. In the nearly three years since, the attack has become a central focus of memorial projects and survivor testimony efforts in Israel and beyond. The exhibition arrives in London after previous stagings elsewhere, extending the reach of primary witness evidence to UK audiences.

The exhibition combines physical remnants of the attack with survivor accounts and raw witness footage, presenting the material reality of the atrocity through direct testimony. Visitors entering the space encounter documentary footage alongside the damaged structures recovered from the site, placing physical evidence at the centre of the display.

What's Next

The exhibition is now open to the public at 30 Curtain Road in Shoreditch, operating on a timed-entry basis with advance booking available through the official exhibition site. Survivors, returned hostages and bereaved families are participating in the programme of in-person testimonies as part of the ongoing presentation. Organisers have framed the London edition as a commemorative effort to preserve witness evidence and confront denial, with proceeds directed toward supporting the healing journey of those directly affected by the attack.