News from all over - Providence
The leader of a Rhode Island artists' cooperative has been placed on probation for trying to find out -- by illegally living inside a secret apartment set up in a parking garage at the Providence Place Mall.
Michael Townsend and other artists started building the apartment nearly four years ago inside a void in the parking garage. The apartment eventually had a sectional sofa and love seat, coffee and breakfast tables, a rug, paintings and a video game system. The artists built a cinderblock wall to disguise their hideaway.
Townsend says members of the collective would stay for up to three weeks at a time. Plans for a one-year stay fell apart when mall security found Townsend last week and detained him. He has pleaded no contest to a trespassing charge.
Police Major Stephen Campbell says while he's surprised by what the artists accomplished, their stunt was still illegal.
Source
Michael Townsend and other artists started building the apartment nearly four years ago inside a void in the parking garage. The apartment eventually had a sectional sofa and love seat, coffee and breakfast tables, a rug, paintings and a video game system. The artists built a cinderblock wall to disguise their hideaway.
Townsend says members of the collective would stay for up to three weeks at a time. Plans for a one-year stay fell apart when mall security found Townsend last week and detained him. He has pleaded no contest to a trespassing charge.
Police Major Stephen Campbell says while he's surprised by what the artists accomplished, their stunt was still illegal.
Source
