The Anti-Ruin: Michael Townsend and the Secret Mall Apartment

What does it look like to revitalize an abandoned space - that’s situated inside an active and excessively large shopping mall - in 2005? On this special bonus episode of abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, you’ll meet Michael Townsend, one of the eight artists who, from 2005-2008, did just that: built a secret apartment inside the Providence Place Mall. Michael is one of the subjects of the smash documentary Secret Mall Apartment, from director Jeremy Workman and executive producer Jesse Eisenberg, which follows the story of a motley crew of Gen-X urbex artists who did the unthinkable and brought national attention to the intricacies and devastation of urbanization and gentrification... simply by occupying “underutilized space.” This bonus episode was repurposed from a live interview on abandoned host Blake Pfeil and his creative partner Jeremiah Wenutu’s show Cinema Kingston!, a weekly late-night program that explores the film industry in Hudson Valley, NY. The show airs every Wednesday night from 9-11 PM EST on Radio Kingston, WKNY, AM 1490 FM 107.9, in Kingston, NY. To learn more, visit RadioKingston.org. To learn more about Secret Mall Apartment, visit secretmallapartment.com To learn more about Tape Art, visit tapeart.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices