Shedding light on a quirky 2007 story that made national headlines, Secret Mall Apartment takes us deep into the bowels of the Providence Place Mall, centerpiece of the renaissance of Rhode Island’s capital city developed under convict mayor Buddy Cianci. Apartment residents had the advantage of private access to the theater anytime they wished.
In Secret Mall Apartment, however, the goal is a form of artistic resistance wherein Risd-trained artist Michael Townsend, his wife Adriana, and friends seeing how long they could stay. The mall and the transformation of Providence was incredibly disruptive, kicking artists out of exciting life, work, and exhibition spaces a few miles away with the goal of clearing the old mill district for strip malls and power centers. It was such a large project it led to the re-routing of river and train tracks. This created some exciting opportunities for artists to make work that pushed against dominant power structures,...
In Secret Mall Apartment, however, the goal is a form of artistic resistance wherein Risd-trained artist Michael Townsend, his wife Adriana, and friends seeing how long they could stay. The mall and the transformation of Providence was incredibly disruptive, kicking artists out of exciting life, work, and exhibition spaces a few miles away with the goal of clearing the old mill district for strip malls and power centers. It was such a large project it led to the re-routing of river and train tracks. This created some exciting opportunities for artists to make work that pushed against dominant power structures,...
- 3/27/2024
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Some solutions to the housing crisis are more creative than others. For a group of artists in Providence, Rhode Island, that idea was put to the test when they infiltrated and inhabited a hidden alcove in their local mall for four years — a symbol of gentrification they repurposed into a decidedly anticapitalist communal space. The aptly named “Secret Mall Apartment,” directed by Jeremy Workman and executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg, is a thoughtful celebration of the DIY artistry behind that experiment, but only a so-so investigation of it.
Like a lot of great plans, this one was barely planned at all. After he and three of his friends decided to see who could pull off living inside Providence Place Mall the longest, Michael Townsend, drawing on a random memory of the building’s construction four years earlier, recalled a “nowhere space” where he and his cohort might find shelter: a...
Like a lot of great plans, this one was barely planned at all. After he and three of his friends decided to see who could pull off living inside Providence Place Mall the longest, Michael Townsend, drawing on a random memory of the building’s construction four years earlier, recalled a “nowhere space” where he and his cohort might find shelter: a...
- 3/20/2024
- by Michael Nordine
- Variety Film + TV
When the Providence Place Mall was constructed in the late ’90s, it was touted by Rhode Island leaders as a sign of urban renewal for its struggling capital city. For eight artists, it became something else — home.
These friends constructed a makeshift apartment — complete with a sofa, a TV and video game system, a microwave and a cinderblock wall — in a hidden alcove of the shopping complex’s garage. To run the appliances, they tapped into the mall’s electricity. Amazingly, this hangout spot (where some of the friends even spent several shivery nights), went undiscovered for four years. Their audacious gambit was launched in response to the gentrification taking place around them, a humorous protest against the capitalist forces that threatened to push the city’s artistic community to its outer edges. It’s also the subject of “Secret Mall Apartment,” a fascinating new documentary from Jeremy Workman (“Lily...
These friends constructed a makeshift apartment — complete with a sofa, a TV and video game system, a microwave and a cinderblock wall — in a hidden alcove of the shopping complex’s garage. To run the appliances, they tapped into the mall’s electricity. Amazingly, this hangout spot (where some of the friends even spent several shivery nights), went undiscovered for four years. Their audacious gambit was launched in response to the gentrification taking place around them, a humorous protest against the capitalist forces that threatened to push the city’s artistic community to its outer edges. It’s also the subject of “Secret Mall Apartment,” a fascinating new documentary from Jeremy Workman (“Lily...
- 3/7/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
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