Inside the Artist-Run ‘Secret Mall Apartment’

Summary

A new documentary, titled Secret Mall Apartment, chronicles the story of a Rhode Island art collective that made Providence Place mall their home.
Directed by Jeremy Workman and produced by Jesse Eisenberg, the film recently debuted at SXSW and has started rollout in theaters across the U.S.

In the year 2003, a collective of artists from Rhode Island took a neglected nook within Providence Place mall and remodeled it into a covert 750-square-foot hideout. Now, their extraordinary tale is making its way to the silver screen.

In a new documentary titled “Secret Mall Apartment“, which premiered at SXSW last spring, the spotlight falls on a particular group. This film is the work of director Jeremy Workman and producer Jesse Eisenberg. The narrative revolves around artist Michael Townsend, the leader of their clandestine operation, and the six other members of this unofficial art collective. The story switches between old footage and contemporary interviews, where they share their experiences from their time together.

The project, originally named “Malllife,” seamlessly combined elements of installations, performance art, and everyday living, challenging the boundaries between public and personal spaces, and transforming unconventional locales into makeshift homes.

For quite some time, artists secretly resided within the premises, taking turns, just as Workman pointed out, fulfilling a childhood dream of dwelling inside a shopping mall. However, this fantasy came to a halt when Townsend was spotted by a team of security guards in 2007. Yet, their influence persists, immortalized in countless hours of fuzzy footage recorded on Pentax cameras from the early 2000s.

Townsend informed The Washington Post that the footage was never intended for public viewing,” but what makes the movie uniquely captivating is its uncensored, genuine portrayal of clandestine existence.

The “Hidden Flat in the Shopping Center” is now available in certain cinemas throughout the United States. For further details and ticket purchases, visit the movie’s official website.

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