Jeremy Workman’s documentary Secret Mall Apartment wants the viewer to carefully consider where art and life intersect. If someone calls themself an artist, does that mean that their art is their life? Does an artist live inside their work all the time, or is there a separation like any other job where someone clocks in and out all the time? Secret Mall Apartment doesn’t so much question whether or not the elaborate, cheeky gambit at the heart of the documentary is art or not, but rather where those lines of separation exist. At a passing glance, Workman’s film tells the story of an artistic prank for the ages, but when the viewer delves further into the warm hearted personalities and movements in which the “piece” existed, Secret Mall Apartment becomes something a lot subtler and more intellectually engaging.
But if you don’t want to think too long and hard about what you’re watching, Secret Mall Apartment still has a heck of a story to tell that functions just fine on its own as a cracking piece of entertainment. Back in 2003, Providence, Rhode Island based artist Adriana Valdez Young had a brainstorm when listening to a commercial on the radio about a recently opened shopping mall, told from the perspective of a harried woman who says she would live in the gargantuan, but convenient monument to capitalism if she could. What if someone actually did live there? Spearheaded by muralist and artist Michael Townsend, a quartet (soon to become an octet) of like minded creatives set out on a mission to figure out how they could make that a reality. They discovered across a 750 square foot anomaly in the architecture of the mall that was relatively obscured and filled only with leftover construction materials. With some elbow grease, thrifted furniture, and a whole lotta cinder blocks, Townsend and his friends were able to create a secret hangout space within the walls of Providence Place, one that would end up becoming something closer to a functional apartment. They moved in in 2003 and weren’t “evicted” until 2007.
Secret Mall Apartment is a film that could talk about a lot of different issues that Townsend and company’s project brings up, but it leaves it up to the viewer to ascribe their own meaning to it all. There’s the obvious social commentary to be found within the film’s premise and the artists’ project. The Providence Place mall (and the construction of other major retail developments in and around the area) was meant to throw a lifeline to a city in decline, but it came at the cost of the city’s industrial heritage, affordable housing, and a vibrant underground art scene.
Throughout history and around the globe, squatting has proven to be a major incubator for artists to create some of their finest works in abandoned lofts, mills, and factories. The only difference here is that Townsend and his mischief makers were creating art within such a space that was still in operational use. And through the lens of hindsight and the general collapse of shopping malls as a viable revenue generator for major cities, Secret Mall Apartment shows the dangers of governments putting too many of their fragile eggs into shoddy wicker baskets. If this were to happen today and provided that the “tenants” were willing to pay rent, I bet mall operators would be thrilled to be turning any sort of profit on the space.
But once one looks past the overarching commentary of such an undertaking, the viewer’s focus turns to the art itself, which isn’t all that much to look at. It’s just a place to gather around, play video games, and occasionally crash out for a night or two. It wasn’t a primary focus for Townsend and the other artists; more of a side project while they were off producing works they had much more of an emotional connection to, some of which dealt with providing hope and comfort to those going through large scale tragedies. With all that in mind, one wonders if this was less of a social commentary and more of a way to blow off some steam and have a few chuckles in a world that was progressively growing darker around them.
In modern interviews with the participants and archival footage that was captured through the use of low end digital cameras that were more useful for stills than they were for audio and video, the artists show a lot of self-awareness. When Workman (The World Before Your Feet) speaks with outside observers about the nature of the secret mall apartment, those people have any number of theories as to what it all could mean. The artists who lived there don’t seem to have many illusions at all. It was just something they did because they could and because no one else had tried it before. It was a project concocted with the knowledge of its own impermanence, executed by artists who were well versed in creating works that often weren’t meant to last.
Secret Mall Apartment (which also includes a nifty reconstruction of the living space on a sound stage) allows the viewer to revel in the moment with its subjects; dodging security guards, lugging huge pieces of furniture up narrow and practically vertical staircases, popping down to the movie theatre for snacks after the food court is closed. Even though the events being depicted by Workman happened two decades ago, they’re presented in a way that feels fresh and vibrant. That sense of immediacy makes it easy for the viewer to continue thinking about this journey long after the film ends, but not in an obtrusive or disheartening way. Whether you view the “installation” or “condo” as a bit of commentary or just a light hearted rib, either way, you’re right. Secret Mall Apartment profiles people who created a work of disruptive art that creates an emotional connection by not being traditionally disruptive.
Secret Mall Apartment opens at Metro Cinema in Edmonton on Friday, May 2, 2025, at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto on Saturday, May 3, at Hyland Cinema in London and Screening Room in Kingston on Friday, May 9, Dave Barber Cinematheque in Winnipeg on Wednesday, May 14, and Sudbury Indie Cinema on May 29.
