Secret Mall Apartment Review: Creatives Find a Residence in the Heart of Gentrification

      Note: This review was initially published as part of our coverage for SXSW 2024. Secret Mall Apartment is currently showing in theaters.

      Bringing attention to an unusual story from 2007 that captured national interest, Secret Mall Apartment takes us deep within the Providence Place Mall, a key component in the revitalization of Rhode Island’s capital, overseen by former mayor Buddy Cianci. (Interestingly, I had just been above it a few months before discovering the hidden mall apartment while watching Cherry Arnold's Buddy, a perceptive film about the mayor and his impact on Providence, at the mall’s Showcase Cinemas, but that's a different tale.) Residents of the apartment enjoyed private access to the theater whenever they pleased.

      In Secret Mall Apartment, the aim is a form of artistic defiance where RISD-trained artist Michael Townsend, along with his wife Adriana and their friends, attempts to see how long they can remain. The mall's development and the transformation of Providence were highly disruptive, displacing artists from vibrant work and exhibition spaces just a few miles away to make way for strip malls and commercial centers. The scale of the project was so immense that it necessitated rerouting rivers and train tracks. This situation presented unique opportunities for artists like Townsend to create works that challenged established power dynamics, including a hidden creek where he built a profound, haunting tunnel of bodies viewable only by those with the proper access.

      While I'm unsure if Gary Burns’ 2000 film Waydowntown screened in Providence, the group's endeavors seem to draw some influence from its central theme: how long one can remain inside the mall? Triggered by a series of advertisements celebrating the mall's impressive structure and amenities, Adriana dares the group to live there, with some attempting to spend the night without alerting security. The film’s conclusion highlights an irony: Providence Place, much like other malls nationwide, is contemplating the possibility of incorporating (legal) apartments in the future, a concept explored in Calgary, Alberta’s Plus 15 network of interconnected buildings in Waydowntown.

      Though the film addresses complex challenges faced by cities like White Plains and Buffalo—particularly the unfriendly, large-scale malls in downtown areas intended to attract suburban visitors—the core of the movie revolves around a group of creative individuals who turned a neglected 700-square-foot space between two sections of the mall into a makeshift home. They reclaimed the area by adding a couch, a table, and a video game console, and began inviting selected artists and friends over. Ultimately, in their largest undertaking, they covertly imported bricks to construct a wall that separated the space, successfully deceiving mall security for years with a locked door.

      Structured around interviews with those who visited or contributed to the creation of the space, Secret Mall Apartment owes much of its existence to Townsend, who diligently kept a detailed video diary using a small point-and-shoot camera he could conceal in a mint box while wandering through the mall. The footage captures all facets of their experience, including his eventual fallout with Adriana, who grew weary of the mall lifestyle and wished to return to their home renovation project.

      Similar to director Jeremy Workman’s prior works, The World Before Your Feet and Lilly Topples the World, Secret Mall Apartment offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of those navigating their environment through artistic expression. Certain segments seem to belong to another film, as we track Townsend’s endeavors as a tape artist, bringing joy to children at a local hospital and solace to communities in New York and Oklahoma City following terrorist attacks.

      The film shines brightest when concentrating on the four years Townsend and his collaborators spent within the mall, quite literally placing themselves in the midst of the significant changes impacting their city. It's a compelling narrative filled with political and social insights that transcend mere headlines. Before this film, little was known about the collaborators (Townsend ultimately received probation and a lifetime ban from the mall), and the documentary illuminates four years of history and creative practices.

      Secret Mall Apartment made its debut at SXSW 2024.