Director Jeremy Workman’s documentary, “Secret Mall Apartment,” spins a crazy yarn about a group of Rhode Island street artists who, in a brazen and ingenious-level piece of establishment corporate defiance, fooled the Providence Place security for four years by building a secret apartment within a hidden nook of the mall structure.
Artist Michael Townsend is the brainchild behind this clandestine operation, which was born out of his and a group of his fellow Rhode Island School of Design graduate friends’ frustration with the gentrification and supposed urban beautification of an area of downtown Providence they cherished as their underground art playground.
The mall, which Providence lawmakers hoped would revitalize the downtown, was a massive undertaking, and for a time, it brought people to the downtown. Of course, history is what it is; we all know what happened to the state of shopping malls. In the most ironic twists of a story filled with twists and turns, the Providence Place Mall would eventually have to look at unique revenue-generating schemes, including apartments, to survive.
I’ve been to Providence Place, and it is a behemoth of a thing. It’s not hard to imagine getting lost there or figuring out how to stash away a hidden apartment. And that’s just what Townsend and his renegade band of enthusiasts do. Over four years, they slowly evolved their project, which began as a secret hangout, to one where the mission and goal become, “How do we make this a legitimate apartment?” It would be a shame to spoil all of the fun by telling you what they do, but let’s say Townsend’s obsession includes smuggling furniture into the space and eventually building a cinder block wall with a working locked door to complete the ruse.
As the events of this documentary occur prior to the invention of the smartphone, the video cameras used by Townsend and friends are a bit low-tech, but it’s a wonder that they were able to document their process at all. So, while the imagery is a bit low-tech, the results are still amusing and, I’ll admit, at times suspenseful. It’s fun to watch the team elude mall security, even when it looks like they’ve been caught red-handed.
“Secret Mall Apartment” is a fast watch, clocking in at a tight 91 minutes. Most of the focus is on Townsend and his friends, with modern interviews mixed with footage taken by them during the four years they found and built their secret mall hideaway and eventually were discovered. It would have been fascinating to hear the other side of the story from the mall security team that let this charade go undetected for four years. Still, there was probably too much embarrassment over the incident for security people to want to sit for an interview. Although Townsend was banned permanently from the mall after being apprehended, all may be forgiven. “Secret Mall Apartment” had a premier event at the Providence Place Theater, which was about as meta as you get. Look for this one on your on-demand and streamers.
It’s a hidden gem.
