In the early 2000s, Providence, capital of the American state of Rhode Island, welcomed a shopping center called Providence Place, considered at the time as a revolutionary. A radio advertisement had then given a crazy idea to Adriana Valdez Young, who quickly talked to her husband Michael Townsend. In the spot, a woman expressed her wish to live fully in this place where it was apparently possible to find everything she might need to be happy.
Taking the advertising message to the letter, the couple of artists then embarked on an incredible experience, told by Business Insider. After having found a hidden corridor in the heart of the maze of underground corridors and outings of Providence Place, he decided to make it a place of life. With the help of half a dozen friends, Adriana Valdez Young and Michael Townsend have gradually brought the elements to make this little “apartment” livable and welcoming.
Challenge
Sofa, glass dining table, carpet, game console: gradually, over a period of four years, the small troop made its nest in this area long known to itself. It is this incredible secret project that director Jeremy Workman describes in his documentary film entitled Secret Mall Apartmentcurrently projected in Providence and New York, which will be released in Los Angeles as well as in other American cities in April.
For a part of the population, especially the most “underground”, Providence Place is considered to be the symbol of destructive capitalism: to erect this flashy shopping center, it was notably necessary to shave Fort Thunder, name given to a disused factory which had been redeveloped in order to host shows, plays and artist lofts. To erect a clandestine apartment there was therefore both the funny challenge and the artistic installation with protest.
“The building has a multitude of strange and interesting forms. The space we discovered was actually a negative space between two plans of the building »explains in the documentary Colin Bliss, one of the artists who participated in the construction of the apartment. The group of friends accessed the latter in two ways: either by sneaking between the open spaces of a staircase cage of the Providence Place parking lot, or thanks to a network of emergency exits and secret corridors, directly accessible from the interior of the shopping center.
“We felt really relaxed”says Adriana Valdez Young in the documentary. “It was a bit like a prison, with this wall of cement and the absence of natural light, and you could be discovered at any time. There was a strange feeling of freedom. ” The place served as a meeting space for the planning of various artistic projects-notably personalized facilities in children’s hospitals and a portrait project in New York in honor of the victims of September 11.
This atypical situation will have lasted about four years. The band of artists ended up surpassing: after all these years, its lair had been discovered. Several objects from the apartment, such as the game console or photo albums, have suddenly disappeared, probably stolen by intruders. According to members of the group, Providence Safety Agents Place would actually have found the apartment but would not have revealed the existence to their superiors, preferring to use this place with undeniable and atypical charm.
One day, Michael Townsend and one of his friends came face to face with a member of the surveillance team. The incident sounded the end of the adventure: the apartment was walled up and the long -standing intruders have been banished for life from Providence Palace. In any case, this was the initial decision: recently, a projection of Secret Mall Apartment was organized in Providence Place, and the whole band was invited to attend the event.
