The Israel Nature and Parks Authority has launched “The Eighth Sound,” an annual video art exhibition hosted in the Bell Caves at Beit Guvrin National Park, blending music, text and immersive visual art designed specifically for the unique underground space.
Created by musician and artist Ehud Banai and video artist Ronen Tanhum, the installation offers a markedly different experience from previous exhibitions at the site. It combines Banai’s music, original textual elements and site-specific video work to guide visitors on a multisensory journey through the Bell Caves.
Gallery
The Eighth Note exhibition at Beit Guvrin National Park
(Photo: Shai Isaacs, Israel Nature and Parks Authority )
Set within the limestone caverns, the exhibition explores themes of memory, consciousness and the earliest stages of human existence, drawing on the concept of pregnancy as a formative period of awareness. According to the creators, the work invites visitors to symbolically return to an early state of consciousness and “wander through the womb of the earth.”
The soundtrack features Banai’s well-known songs, many in newly recorded arrangements created for the exhibition. It also includes, for the first time, a performance of his song “Wrapped in Mercy,” inspired by an ultrasound during the pregnancy of his eldest daughter.
(Photo: Studio 4040)
(Photo: Studio 4040)
Banai said his first visit to the caves gave him the sensation of entering another dimension. “In my first visit to the cave I felt like I was crossing into a different dimension, like entering a vast womb,” he said. “The Talmud describes the fetus in the womb as having the highest level of consciousness. I thought about how figures like the Prophet Elijah and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai experienced spiritual revelations specifically in caves. From this came the idea of a journey through sound, speech and image — from pregnancy to birth, from reality to dream, from life to what lies beyond it.”
Tanhum said the work was shaped by Banai’s text even before he visited the site. “Even in his words I felt a gateway to childhood memory, inner time and a spiritual dimension,” he said. “When I entered the Bell Cave, it was clear the work needed to respond to the organic nature of the space. The cave is not a backdrop but a living entity with its own rhythm and breath. I wanted to create a visual system based on artificial intelligence that does not dominate the space but listens to it and integrates into it through light, imagery and movement.”
(Photo: Studio 4040)
Beit Guvrin National Park manager and Bell Cave Gallery founder Tomer Sargosti said the annual exhibition allows the site to be reinterpreted each year. “The exhibition in the Bell Cave allows us every year to present the site from a new perspective and offer visitors an experience that combines heritage, nature and culture,” he said. “This year’s work was created through a direct encounter between the artists and the cave, tailored specifically to the space.”
According to the park authority, “The Eighth Sound” is the seventh exhibition held in the Bell Caves since they were converted into a contemporary art venue. The exhibition will run from July through November 2026, with evening visiting hours between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Entry closes at 9 p.m. Visits last approximately 35 minutes, with a total experience of about one hour and 15 minutes including the cave walk. Night access to the national park is limited to the Bell Caves area. Tickets are available through the Israel Nature and Parks Authority website.