Living In the Mall

The shopping mall is a heavily debated and vilified phenomenon. Malls are often seen as soulless halls of commerce that try, but fail to create a third space and sense of community. Blame is frequently heaped on these shopping centers for destroying local businesses and perpetuating a bland cookie cutter culture. And like them or not, massive malls are on a downturn. The remains of once thriving shopping malls litter communities across America -retail vacancies are currently at a six year high.

What then, are communities to do with these empty shells of retail? One couple, Rhode Island artists Michael Townsend and Adriana Yoto decided to explore the idea of the mall in depth, by moving in to their local shopping center.

Salon reports:

The Rhode Island couple awoke one morning in 1998 to find the name of their street changed: Kinsley Avenue was now Providence Place, which happened to be the name of the 1.3 million-square-foot mall rising on 13 prime downtown acres. Townsend and Yoto were among the Providence residents objecting to the mall — the cost to taxpayers, the colonizing presence of the structure that dominated the skyline from the highway. But Yoto, a scholar, and Townsend, a public artist, expressed their outrage in an unusual way: They decided to live with the mall. Literally.

Salon: “The couple who lived in a mall”