Secret Mall Apartment | Vancouver International Film Festival | September 26 – October 6, 2024
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live at the mall? It has probably crossed most of our minds at some point. Artist Michael Townsend managed to make it a reality, complete with smuggled-in furniture and a secret entrance. Luckily for director Jeremy Workman, Townsend and seven of his friends documented their experience on film from 2003-2007. This original footage is beautifully woven with interviews that provide deeper context and rich memories. The film is about so much more than pulling off an elaborate prank or making a piece of performance art — it’s a commentary on how capitalism and development shape our cities, our neighbourhoods, and our lives; and how artists can respond to this in meaningful ways.
The construction of the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island coincided with the demolition of Townsend’s live-work space, Fort Thunder, in a part of town that was seemingly cut off from downtown by the new mega mall. Developers were taking over plots of land and forcing people out of established neighbourhoods. Feelings of disdain for the mall, and all it represented, ran high.
After losing their homes, Townsend and a few friends came up with the idea to live at the mall. It started as a challenge: could they live at the mall for one week without getting kicked out? Who would last the longest? The hardest part was finding somewhere to sleep. Townsend remembered a space he had noticed when the mall was being constructed — an oddly shaped space in between two sections of the mall; he couldn’t figure out what it would be used for. He managed to find it, and it was still full of construction debris. Soon, he and his friends were moving furniture in, tapping into the electricity, and making themselves more comfortable in this underutilized space. They became, as they joked, developers of their own 750 square feet of the mall.
The longer the group of friends goes without being caught, the bolder they get. What if they could figure out how to receive mail at the mall? What if they build a wall to make the space even more private? The suspense grows as the film goes on, and there are a couple of moments when you’re sure they will be caught, but they manage to carry on. It’s an incredible story, and an inspiring blend of art and activism that they manage to pull off.
In between all the drama of the apartment, we learn about Townsend’s other work and the role the apartment played as a hub for the group to plan their artistic projects such as silhouettes of every 9/11 victim spread throughout Manhattan. Townsend’s unique tape art practice was featured in many projects, and the group regularly facilitated tape art murals for patients at the children’s hospital. The apartment was an important space for the group to come together as collaborators; as Adriana Valdez Young, who was Townsend’s wife at the time, says, it became a relaxing refuge isolated from the rest of the world.
As many artists will attest, having a space to think, create, and come together with collaborators is very valuable. When space becomes commodified, gentrified, and financially out of reach, artists will find creative solutions. The Providence Place Mall has changed over the years and lost many major stores, and there is a risk of losing the largest retailer, Macy’s. The mall’s owner is in financial trouble and has considered adding residential apartments to generate revenue. It seems Townsend and his friends were ahead of their time.