Days of Awe / Tours of Exhibitions Following the Events of October 7, 2023
A unique tour of three exhibitions and a work of art that express, each in its own way, the current sense of shock and suffocation in Israel. On each tour, the visitors will explore a selection of the exhibits.
The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called the Days of Awe, and are also referred to in the Jewish tradition as the Ten Days of Repentance. This period represents a process of self-reflection and recovery.
On the seventh of October, 2023 the entire country was struck silent by an unimaginable reality. Now, a year later, the Museum displays a range of exhibitions that touch on the pain of the war. The tour reveals the unique power of art to reflect complexities and raise awareness, even in times of crisis.
The exhibition I Don’t Want to Forget: From the Mareva and Arthur Essebag Collection gives expression to the still-evolving memory of the October 7 events. It features artworks by 25 Israeli artists, nearly all created in response to that life-shattering day. The exhibition negotiates beauty and pain, capturing the horrors of war while offering empathy and solace.
The exhibition Tal Mazliach: War Decorations centers on a new series of paintings in the artist’s unique style of colorful, short brushstrokes that create repetitive rhythms. She depicts her harrowing experiences from October 7, when for over twenty hours she was besieged in her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the safe-room-cum-studio, until she was finally rescued by the IDF’s Shaldag Unit.
The site-specific installation Cascade by lighting-artist Muhammad Abo Salme is like a show comprised of thousands of meters of metal bead chains of the sort commonly associated with a soldier’s dog tag—and these days with the chains expressing solidarity with the hostages abducted by Hamas militants on October 7. Since that day, time has taken a different meaning—of waiting, anticipation, and transition between movement and stagnation. Engaging with universal human loss as a result of war, the installation evokes both wonderment and distress.
Zoya Cherkassky-Nadi’s painting The Terrorist Attack at Nova Music Festival 7.10.2023 (2024) is on display in the Israeli collection exhibition. In the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, Cherkassky-Nadi created a series of vivid drawings of scenes of the disaster. These intimate drawings held monumental power, and she chose to enlarge one of them into a large-scale painting. The work simultaneously depicts the movement of women fleeing for their lives and the freeze-framing of the horrendous moments of terror that will be forever imprinted on Jewish and Israeli history.
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Note: This tour is in Hebrew only.
The number of participants is limited | Advance reservations are required for all participants.
The encounter takes place near a secure space.