Romanian Creative Week (Iasi) 2021

— Learning Where I Don’t Belong

Not every exhibition teaches you where you belong.
Some teach you where you don’t.

Romanian Creative Week 2021, in Iași, was one of those experiences. After my first exhibition, I needed contrast — and I got it. To understand what respect looks like, sometimes you have to stand in spaces where it is clearly absent.

The exhibition space was set inside a shopping mall, near the Palace. Each exhibitor was given a large cardboard box — a makeshift enclosure — and a table. That was it. There was little context, little visibility, and even less intention. Most visitors had no idea we were there, or why. The real activity happened outside, around the fashion shows. We were not part of the event’s pulse; we were filler.

It felt like an event designed to consume time, space, and budgets — for the organizers, not for the artists. The presence of creators seemed necessary only on paper, to fill a program, not to be supported, framed, or truly seen.

And yet, even in that setting, something good emerged. Once again, it was the people. I met artists and visitors with whom real conversations happened — honest, warm, human exchanges that had nothing to do with the structure surrounding us. We ended up creating our own space inside the void, enjoying each other’s presence, laughing, sharing, existing together despite everything else.

That experience gave me something essential: clarity. It showed me the environments I refuse to be part of. It taught me that respect is not a luxury, and that artists are not decorative elements. Every creator contributes to the quality and growth of an event, not the other way around.

Since then, I’ve become far more selective about where I show my work. Not out of arrogance, but out of self-respect. Choosing where not to be is just as important as choosing where to stand.

As we say in Romanian, tot răul spre bine — every bad thing carries a lesson.
In Iași, we made our own joy.
And that, in the end, was enough.