3rd Space is for the People
The New York City concert collective is hosting your favorite emerging musical artists in unexpected venues.
By JANE LEWIS
Photographer OLIVIA WEIN
A punk show in a dumpling shop, hyperpop in a boxing ring, smooth jazz in a smoke shop—3rd Space plays musical Mad Libs with the DIY music scene. Founded by Spencer Papandrea in January 2025, the concert collective has enlivened unassuming corners of New York with performances by the city’s emerging talent.
On the chilly Saturday night of March 7, 3rd Space, in collaboration with newsletter and social network Perfectly Imperfect, hosted rock and roll in an art gallery. “We have this model of ‘blank’ in a ‘blank,’” Spencer told me, explaining how he and his team introduce a new form of live music performances every month. The crew is passionate: Kay, the sound engineer, Ronnie, the booking manager; Thomas, the venue coordinator; Sreya and Christine, the designers; Nash, the event coordinator; Alessandra, Cyrus, Jonathan, and Zander, the day-of production assistants. They play with contrast, granting both venue and performer the opportunity to elevate one another. Antipop takes over a subway car, electropop electrifies a laundromat, cloud musicians serenade in a church. It’s a fun, eye-catching model to inspire their monthly concerts, and their followers anxiously watch the 3rd Space Instagram account to see what words will fill in the blanks next.
The March 7 show at Makers’ Space Gallery in Williamsburg was sold out, and boasted more than just rock and roll. Ren G, moonbby, and Océane drew from electropop influences, while bbpue hyped the crowd up with electronic dance. Singer 3L3D3P blasted punk-electronic, rappers Lightris and sero serenaded over lo-fi pop beats, and voyeur–the alternative rock quartet–inspired a passionate moshpit.
While musical artists ruled the back half of the venue, visual artists reigned in the front. In proper gallery fashion, 10 painters and sculptors mingled among white walls dotted with their work. First-time curator Harper Segal sourced the artists via a Reddit thread, chose talent that he felt represented the burgeoning space where fine art and internet culture overlap. Michel Darling’s painting Glint (2025), depicted a face vertically compressed and bearing teeth, with hieroglyphic symbols lining the bottom portion of the frame. In (the tragedy of) spending your life desperately wanting to be something that you already were all along (2026), painter Clayton Harris filled his canvas with a depiction of North West wearing a blue wig. Ambiguous video game-rendered faces float on the edges of the composition connected by red lines, all layered beneath a Venn diagram and a warped neon yellow graphic. These niche yet recognizable symbols of the internet become muddled, as they lose their original meaning to create a new one. Sonny Moore and Bones Gilmore provided intricate anime characters, while sculptor Grace Jung exhibited dozens of cinder blocks in the center of the room where a glass ball dripped water onto a circuit board sculpture.
As Harper described his curatorial methods, a painting fell off the wall and clattered to the floor behind us. In a second, he whisked it up and tacked it back onto the wall. “Like I said, it’s my first time doing this,” he laughed. I eagerly asked Harper what name he chose for this exhibition. A title is often an important beacon of guidance, alluding to the theme or subject matter of what the viewer can expect to see. “I’ll come up with one and get back to you,” he responded.
The art gallery shook with music, and back in the mosh pit, the audience clashed with smiles. Booths sold beer and t-shirts, hats, and underwear from emerging New York brands and artists. It was a collective moment, the kind that I found daunting at first glance, as my instinct was to watch rather than participate. However, the attendees of 3rd Space drew me into the crowd to dance, approached me to say genuine hello’s, and invited me outside for smoke breaks.
I spoke to a DJ who was also a filmmaker, a photographer who was also a producer, a clothing designer who was also a student, and an engineer who was also a musician. 3rd Space encapsulates the layered experience of being a young, creative person in New York. We all have multiple jobs, multiple passions, and a multitude of adjectives to describe who we are and what we do. Some days I feel like punk rock in a dumpling shop and other days I feel like hyperpop in a boxing ring: excited, physical, aggressive.
“The artists tonight receive all of the proceeds,” painter Michel explained. Unlike typical galleries that take a percentage of sales, 3rd space returns it back to artists. Everything is truly for the community. The 3rd Space ethos boasts total inclusivity, visible in the crowd that rallies around these unconventional concerts. They are undeniably excited, unapologetic, and most importantly–dancing.
