Artist gets probation for building secret mall apartment

Boston.com ^ | Oct. 2, 2007 | Associated Press

[steel_resolve]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for illegally setting up a secret apartment inside the Providence Place Mall that was equipped with furniture and a video game system.

Alerts Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the apartment in a 750-square-foot loft in the parking garage four years ago and lived there for up to three weeks at a time while documenting mall life.

[steel_resolve]

Berkley Tree Sitters eat your hearts out...

[Artemis Webb]

I would hardly call it art...

but it is pretty cool.

[1rudeboy]

“Ms. Jones? Ask the Director of Security to stop by my office.”

[Slapshot68]

Documenting mall life?

Let’s see...people walk in, shop, eat, meet their friends.

There...done. And I didn’t even have to move in.

What an idiot.

[r9etb]

Not much of a people watcher, are you?

[domenad]

That's where you hide when the zombies come. What, no one else saw Dawn of the Dead?

[Joe 6-pack]

LOL...back in 1997 or 98 we actually had a similar squatter, a Korean national, living out of a CONEX on Yongsan US Army Garrison in Seoul. Apparently the thing had been wired with electricity for an old construction project, and after the project had been completed and the contractor moved on, the conex had been left, and the Korean, well....he just stayed.

The rub is, he actually had more living space than a lot of the junior officers had in their BOQ's.

[SIDENET]

That's where you hide when the zombies come. What, no one else saw Dawn of the Dead?

It's like you read my mind!

LOL.

[Designer]

I had to stop in here. Thought it might be somebody I know.

Last semester in design school a classmate lived in our studio. Couldn't afford to pay rent. Never was discovered by the authorities, either!

[fieldmarshaldj]

His first name is Alerts ?

[Slapshot68]

“Not much of a people watcher, are you?”

Sure I am. I just don’t feel a need to MOVE IN to do so.

;)

[Squidpup]

http://www.trummerkind.com/mall/Living_in_the_Mall.html
"Starting in 2003 I committed to the idea of creating a luxury apartment in the mall. Over the course of the years to come I systematically coordinated the movement of the core elements that start to define a home. The space in the mall achieved a base-level of comfort, with enough amenities to qualify itself as a livable domestic space. Life from within the mall was committed to the pursuit of normalcy and the purchase of objects and clothing that would help define me an active participant in the great things the mall has to offer. The apartment was a superb space for hosting guests and I only regret that we didn’t have a working toilet."
uh huh

[kingu]

See, this is kinda stupid, that this would be a criminal matter, rather than a civil matter. If I were the mall, I’d be seeking out 4 years worth of lease payments for 750 square feet of space, at current prevailing lease rates.

[SubGeniusX]

the guy may be a “bit” of a whackjob ....

but you have to respect the guy for being able to pull this off...

4 years and nobdy said “hey whats this door for?”

[mtbopfuyn]

Like they couldn’t have “borrowed” a playstation from the game store?

[SIDENET]

Wow. It is amazing what they were able to do with the space!

Okay, this isn't the acual apartment, but it is how it would look if they ever did a movie about it.

[MrEdd]

We don't have to pay rent cuz, like, we're arteests

[theBuckwheat]

And the “crime” was what exactly? Illegal Living? Or just “zoning”? If they had made themselves up to look like “illegal immigrants” (aka: Mexicans), and made everyone believe they were just “homeless” and trying to just live where they could, then the city would have left them alone.

[tumblindice]

“Artists”. Really . . .
Here in the midwest, people who surreptitiously squat in public places are called “transients” or “bums”.
Or “Democrats”.

[Hegemony Cricket]

Today’s Tom Sawyer - he gets high on you,
With the space he invades he gets by on you...