Lagos is loud. Not talking decibels, just that everything-everywhere-all-at-once energy. For creatives, the noise blurs focus. So how do we protect attention, find what matters, connect with our people, and carve out real space? A Third Space was built for that reason.
“When A Third Space began, the main objective was to create a space for artists to simply be, to have meaningful conversations and create art from both a communal and experimental standpoint, and that still remains our mission,” says Nelson C.J., Founder & Lead Curator. “For our biggest programming, which also marks our one-year anniversary, we’re activating a space that allows creatives and attendees to feel restful, connect without rush, and reset.” Route 3.
Route 3 is a two-day, creatively charged oasis intended to spark alternative thinking across culture and art. It gathers five modes: text, practice, movement, sound, visual and asks them to work together, not in silos most creatives are often conditioned to. Rather than a series of moments, it’s an intentionally paced curated experience: installations and screenings balanced by “creative cocoons” (a reading room, vinyl corners, paint rooms) where you drop your shoulders, slow your breathing, and actually absorb art. The aim is simple and a bit radical for Lagos I must say: make attention possible again, make discovery feel personal and make room for conversation that isn’t rushed.
The venue is part of the concept. Homecoming Concept Store sits just off a slightly busy street on Victoria Island; you step inside and the city’s static softens. That spatial reset is the point. “We chose the Homecoming Concept Store for the way the space lends itself to bold, audacious ideas,” Nelson says. “It’s a canvas with different cocoons to stage installations, exhibitions and creative nooks. It’s tucked behind a slightly busy street, but once you step in, the world melts away.” Route 3 treats her space like a small city: routes, rooms, and rhythms. You move between mediums at your own pace, an intimate reading here, an installation there, a quiet corner to process in between. The house itself does half the curatorial work by the intentional experience it has curated for you.
The curation is interdisciplinary but human-sized, route 3 asks each element to carry a distinct feeling:
“With the music for Route 3, I wanted to create a journey through the many textures of Nigerian sound. Soulful, alternative, and deeply intimate,” says Ayo Lawson. “From Azumi’s raw energy to Esoterica’s edge, Donli’s warmth, the flow reveals how our music can be interpreted in countless ways, always familiar yet endlessly new.”
I asked Nelson what might surprise people most and he refused to pick favorites. The bet is on the accumulation, how the programming adds up in your body over hours, not minutes. “Everything, from the original readings to Walk Worthy and the screenings is curated with intention and perspective, “It’s not just programming; it’s pace.”
Inside Route 3, the exhibition “Come and Collect,” curated by Chisom Peter Job, makes a clear statement: every work is priced under ₦100,000. It’s an intentional structural choice. “In galleries and traditional institutions, the general public is often priced out,” Chisom says. “With Come and Collect, I wanted to change that and create an opportunity for audiences to call themselves collectors and own a piece of art. It brings the wider community in, and supports the artists.” That under ₦100k ceiling is about more than affordability; it’s about belonging.
The artists whose works are set to show include Eje, Temidayo SDL, Ande N Diedjomahor, Chioma Adele, Toyosi Oshadiya, Adewale Mayowa, Badmus Bolanle, Ogagun Lakaye, and Ifoghale Eguwe. These artists will be exhibiting across different mediums, including watercolour, gouache on cardboard and styrofoam, realist expressions, visual alchemy, and more, showcasing the breadth of contemporary experimentation within the space.
Collecting is rarely framed as something everyday people can do here. By lowering the threshold, and doing it publicly; A Third Space links the oasis idea to access, a calmer place to encounter art, and a realistic way to take some of it home, live with it, and grow alongside emerging artists. It seeds an ecosystem where the first purchase leads to the second, where artists find committed advocates early, and where the collector base tells the story of the city in which it lives.
“With a range of socio-economic issues constricting expression here and globally, we thought it was crucial to create a space where creatives could get off the wheel of bustle and hustle, where respite is the agenda and a reset is possible,” Nelson says. “It’s also an avenue for art lovers to experience programming that rethinks how art is delivered and how that delivery intersects with community.” The “for whom” is wide on purpose: practicing artists who need a soft landing, adjacent creatives who want to reconnect with process; and the curious, people who don’t yet claim the label “creative” but are hungry for experiences that feel considered, communal, and kind.
Here is how to navigate Route 3, its doors open from 11:00 AM daily (Sept 26–27). Think of the experience less like a lineup and more like routes you can choose:
None of this requires you to perform “productivity”. Route 3 protects the right to sit, listen, and let things land. For A Third Space, success is measured after the doors close.“People leaving inspired,” Nelson says. “Finding a new favorite artist, enjoying a reading, a film, or a workshop, and knowing they had a place to disappear from the noise, even if only for two days.”
This however isn't Route 3’s first rodeo; it’s the latest step in a year-long investigation into how culture can be made and held differently. Over the past twelve months A Third Space has developed programming across text, visual practice, movement, sound, and process, consistently privileging intimacy over noise. This anniversary activation scales that ethos without losing the gentleness that made people show up in the first place.
"What excites me most about Route 3 is the chance to be both participant and spectator - to experience the fusion of creativity and innovation alongside everyone who joins us," says Dafe Oboro, leading creative direction for the project. "Along with my team, I hope visitors leave Route 3 brimming with fresh inspiration, new connections, and a sense of shared knowledge." This dual perspective—being simultaneously inside and outside the creative process—captures something essential about Route 3's approach to community building through art.
Route 3’s message is clear: rest is infrastructure for creativity, community is practice and access changes who feels invited. Lagos often feels choking for creatives; Route 3 argues for attention and gives you the rooms and tools to find it.
If you are an artist in Lagos looking for some peace of mind, community, and a sense of belonging, you should be at Route 3, happening between September 26–27 (doors 11:00 AM daily) happening at Homecoming Concept Store, 7 Sapara Williams, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Route 3 by A Third Space is supported by Homecoming Concept Space, French Embassy in Nigeria, Deeds Magazine, Foodcourt, Sippa, Anfani, and Amabile Di Rosa Italian Sweet Wines.
Get your tickets here.
