The Accidental Room (2018)
11 hours ago
- #urban exploration
- #hidden spaces
- #art activism
- Providence Place Mall was built in 1999 as a 'super regional' mall, costing $500 million to revitalize downtown Providence.
- Artist Michael Townsend discovered an unused 'accidental room' during the mall's construction, hidden between two walls.
- Townsend and friends, displaced by urban development, turned the hidden space into a secret apartment, living there intermittently for nearly four years.
- They furnished the space with items from the mall, including a couch and China hutch, and used the mall's amenities as residents rather than shoppers.
- The secret apartment was discovered after a break-in by mall security, leading to Townsend's arrest and a trespassing charge.
- Townsend was banned from the mall but continued his art career, remaining in Providence as part of the Trummerkind art collective.