Secret Mall Apartment is a documentary about an odd art project in an inhospitable space. It’s also about contemporary struggles with affordable real estate, and how those pressures affect creative communities. It tells the story of eight Rhode Island artists who pulled off an audacious and illegal DIY project when they built a fully functioning secret apartment inside Providence Place Mall in 2003.
Filmmaker Jeremy Workman’s documentary deploys footage the artists captured themselves during their clandestine visits to the space, avoiding security and exploiting the mall’s infrastructure to secure food, supplies, services, and resources. Their project was an art installation, but also a performance that commented on the clash between upscale consumer culture and the struggling working-class neighborhoods literally in the shadow of the mall. Workman also includes present-day interviews with the group that reveal the deeper meanings behind their elaborate prank with the benefit of 15 years of hindsight.
Michael Townsend, the de facto leader of the creative collective, discovers an unused 750-square-foot space within the mall’s parking structure. For a time the group explores the mall’s nether regions, but — artists being artists — they soon grab a couch from the mall’s furniture store to make the space a better hangout. The couch leads to more additions: lights, a television, and a PlayStation all running on very long extension cords from an outlet they discover in their rambles. The hangout evolves into a plan to create a livable, functioning apartment in the mall. The eight members all use the hideaway, which serves as a crash pad and headquarters for planning large-scale public art installations and charitable projects throughout Providence.
The scenes the artists shot are the best footage of the film. Viewers are given intimate access to every weird discovery, every harrowing structural journey, every anxious, blaring mall door alarm. The handheld digital camera work bristles with a fuzzy lo-res charm that makes scenes of life in a bustling mall seem almost romantic. The movie remembers a time in the first years after the 9/11 attacks, when the iPhone made its debut and social media was a new uncharted territory. Workman doesn’t edit for nostalgia’s sake, but the aesthetics of his medium and his subjects are unmistakable.
Beyond the archival footage, Workman’s talking-head interviews are effective because his subjects have interesting things to say, and they’re a generally personable gang of modest creative workers. The charitable and public projects that Townsend organizes are admirable, community-focused social practice art. The movie’s inclusion of these projects helps viewers understand the collective members and their friendships while underscoring the socio-political themes of the apartment installation. The problem is that the movie gets sidetracked from the mall story to over-explore other work that feels like a separate film, or even a great Blu-ray extra.
In my book Nowville, I document the history of Nashville’s contemporary art scene — a story about weird projects in derelict spaces. In the early oughts, some artist-run galleries operated on cheap rent, while others embraced the notion that it’s better to apologize for trespassing than ask permission first.
The apartment in the film remained undiscovered until 2007, when mall security finally stumbled upon it. When this picture stays focused on its titular subject, it’s an important film about the complicated relationship between art and development — making it required viewing for boomtown Nashvillians today.
Secret Mall Apartment is now available on Blu-ray from Music Box Films
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.