Unfinished

Unfinished is an annual creative festival in Romania developed by a community of global thinkers and makers committed to fostering meaningful exchange across disciplines, generations, and cultures. Through unconventional venues and evolving formats, the festival creates spaces for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and enduring human connection. As curator of the 2021 and 2022 editions, Belleza<Belleza collaborated closely with artists and contributors to conceive immersive experiences that bridged geographical, cognitive, and emotional distances between people and practices.

The 2021 edition, titled “The Midnight Edition,” was conceived as an exploration of new modes of gathering and connection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with the challenge of translating a deeply physical and communal festival into a digital environment, the team developed a dedicated online social platform designed to recreate the rhythms and spontaneity of in-person encounters. Participants began each day with wellness activities such as yoga and meditation, followed by shared meals through the seven-part “Edible Philosophy” series. Throughout the program, lectures and Q&A sessions encouraged creatives and intellectuals to reflect on emerging forms of communication, including contributions from Brazilian psychologist Maria Homem. Participants could also interact through thematic digital spaces, including the Library, which hosted the UNFINISHED archive, and the Café, where an algorithm randomly assembled groups of four in order to recreate the feeling of “bumping into someone” in real life. Each evening concluded with a “Trust Chain” of musical performances. Centered around the theme “Off-Center,” the 2022 edition unfolded as a hybrid multidisciplinary event examining decentralization and the shifting dynamics of power, knowledge, and community. Across four days of workshops, installations, performances, and talks, participants were invited to engage with new perspectives and forms of collective participation. In “Where Should We Begin?”, Belleza<Belleza developed a session inspired by Esther Perel’s card game to encourage vulnerability and personal storytelling. A guided introduction to the festival grounds evolved into a performative musical walk, while “Unfinished Love Stories,” organized in collaboration with Daniel Jones, editor of The New York Times Modern Love column, invited participants to reflect on love and memory through an off-centered perspective. Additional projects included “Butterflies in Your Path,” “Dial-an-Ancestor,” and “Blue Monday — a colorless breakfast for colorful minds.”