One thing that is lost in our age of constant streaming and engagement farming is the simple thrill of oddballs doing things for weirdness’ sake. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve got no shortage of weirdos doing weirdo shit—maybe too many, which is maybe part of our problem—but there’s a certain plasticity when these acts are being performed for likes and clicks. There was a time when freaks would commit acts of petty anarchy simply for the joy of committing them, with no expectation of viral superstardom. They were content, but they weren’t making content.
Such is the case of the subjects of Secret Mall Apartment, the fantastically entertaining new documentary by Jeremy Workman. In 2003, a small group of free-spirited artists decided to see how difficult it would be to spend the night in the Providence Place Mall. At first, the goal was simply to find a comfortable enough spot away from the eyes of the security cameras, but when they stumbled across a seemingly forgotten back corridor untouched since the mall’s construction, they realized they could do more. Over the following four years, the group smuggled in sofas and China hutches, held marathon Playstation sessions, and even constructed a cinderblock wall so as to further blend in with their surroundings.
I say that this band of mall-dwellers weren’t “creating content,” but luckily for us they were filming themselves, thanks to an early digital camera concealed inside an Altoids tin. The footage is dryly funny; they’ll place the camera down on a ledge, casually recording as they haul construction materials and increasingly outlandish articles of furniture into their lair. Occasionally they’ll trip an alarm, in which event they simply freeze in place for two minutes until it goes quiet (they quickly learned that these alarms were merely psychological deterrents, and that security guards would almost never investigate). Most priceless are the shots of the apartment itself, which was, if not exactly ritzy, certainly a cut above most squatter spaces, and not significantly dingier than many of my own friends’ apartments during the same timeframe. It’s clear that all parties considered the apartment a cheeky joke, but also held it genuinely dear as a communal space. The level of sheer domesticity in the secret mall apartment is genuinely charming.
If all there was to Secret Mall Apartment was its central anecdote, it would be enough—it’s a great story, which becomes no less jaw-dropping in the telling—but there’s a lot more going on here than the logline might suggest. This is a story about a prank, but it’s more broadly a story about individuals taking a stand, however silly, against gentrification. Several of the participants had previously lived in, or were at least involved with, Fort Thunder, the legendary Providence underground venue/punk commune founded by the members of Lightning Bolt. The mill building which once housed Fort Thunder, of course, no longer exists, demolished to make room for Providence Place and any number of similarly affluent businesses and condos (a song anyone currently involved with Boston’s alternative scene knows all too well). The symbolic nature of these locals literally worming their way into the foundations of this intrusive presence is clear: the freaks aren’t going anywhere.
I use the word “freaks” affectionately, of course, and I tend to think most of the subjects would wear it as a badge of honor. The true joy of Secret Mall Apartment does not lie in its archival footage, but in its newly recorded interviews. It quickly becomes clear that these are not mere snot-nosed anarchists, but boundlessly creative individuals who view art and life as inextricable forces. Ringleader Michael Townsend is a “tape artist,” known for his collaborative and deliberately impermanent murals at children’s hospitals, and his fellow apartment-dwellers all share a similarly community-oriented take on art. Listening to these people describe their escapades is genuinely inspiring. Even when corporatization threatens to literally swallow our homes, we can still be subversive in the margins– and, crucially, have fun doing it.
There are, perhaps, wrinkles to this story that might have been more deeply explored; the role that white privilege played in the group’s ability to fly under the radar is only briefly acknowledged, and a recorded conversation in which Townsend’s then-wife complains that he’s neglecting his actual home hints at a degree of interpersonal drama which otherwise goes unmentioned. Nevertheless, Secret Mall Apartment remains one of the most entertaining documentaries you’re likely to see this year, and one of the most surprisingly uplifting. In this age of cynical get-that-bag monetization, the adventures of this ragtag group is a reminder that art– no matter how whimsical, radical, or borderline inscrutable– is an end in itself. And as public discourse and private communication alike are corralled into increasingly manipulated, corporate-owned channels, we should all be so lucky to find an unexplored crawlspace of our own.
Secret Mall Apartment
2024
dir. Jeremy Workman
91 min.
Opens Friday, 4/11 @ Somerville Theatre
Q&A with main subject/instigator Michael Townsend following the 7:00 showing on 4/11, and with Townsend and director Jeremy Workman at 7:00 on 4/12
