Artists have done some crazy things over the years. From Tracey Emin’s disheveled bedroom setup to Shia LaBeouf’s ‘I Am Not Famous Anymore’ routine, it is really fascinating to see what stimulates the artistic mind, and how the ideas they come up with can stretch much further than the canvas and out into the real world. Almost as interesting are people’s reactions to these works: some see them as pretentious fluff, others consider them a unique insight into the inner workings of an artist’s mind, and others still are completely indifferent. In 2003, an American artist with a history of creative community projects came up with a wild idea that would serve as an extension of his previous works, offer his wide friendship circle something meaningful to work on together, and make a statement. The fact that it had to remain a complete secret didn’t seem to dampen the importance of the latter.
Secret Mall Apartment is the true story of Michael Townsend and his gang of artist friends who saw an opportunity to make use of useless space. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, he led his own little Bohemian movement that started with community art projects and the repurposing of disused buildings to make hubs for artistic expression. Having watched the construction of the Providence Place shopping mall in the early 2000s, his keen artistic mind noticed gaps in the structure that seemed to serve no real purpose. Once the mall opened, he scoped the place out, and set about finding this little area he dubbed the “nowhere space,” which he figured was hidden away somewhere. He found it and set himself and his friends a challenge: living for a week in the mall, without being discovered.
‘Secret Mall Apartment’ Is About the Use of Space

What started as something of a dare turned into a project that was somewhere between social experiment, installation art, and protest. Why should this hulking great shrine to commercialism take up room it didn’t need, and leave it empty? The movie does a good job of painting a picture of Providence as a city, and how its decline in the latter half of the 20th century left it something of a slum in need of regeneration. Inevitably, this drew the attention of developers who saw every square inch of it as potential income, but while many locals were happy to see the city getting spruced up, for others it was a clear sign of gentrification, of the local everyman being cast aside in favor of profit. The mall was always a controversial figure in Providence, so what if this little ragtag gang of artists could make some good out of it?
The story at the core of Secret Mall Apartment is an utterly captivating one that appeals to the adventurous mind. The types that enjoy urban exploring, walking on the wild side, and taking on huge challenges will find this documentary sparks their imagination and gives them lots of grand ideas as to what can be done if you have the balls to get out there and make it happen. A team of eight young artists put all their money, time, and effort into transforming a completely unlivable space into a refuge full of fun, character, and personal significance. The team used small digital cameras disguised in confectionery tins to record everything they did, and the footage they captured is wonderfully insightful. We get to see them exploring, shopping for Goodwill furniture, and, most impressively, lugging these huge couches, cabinets, and tables up an almost vertical ladder to get them to their secret space. Much in the spirit of the team, it’s an inspirational sight that makes the viewer wonder what they could achieve.
The Danger of Detection Is the Thrill of ‘Secret Mall Apartment’

Image via Wheelhouse Creative

Within a short space of time, they had turned this dingy, forgotten little corner of a shopping mall into their own lair. It had electricity, furniture, and all the trappings of a conventional living space, except for running water and natural light. And the incredible thing is that nobody noticed. The team ended up casually living in this space for over four years, making modifications that eventually included a front door that everybody had keys to. This project became a way of life for them, a commune that was held in the utmost secrecy, and they were always looking to take steps to make it more legitimate, such as figuring out how to have mail delivered there. But, of course, this was essentially four years of running from the law, and it grew to be a stressful way to live.
For the viewer, perhaps the most compelling part of it all is the danger — surely, the jig will eventually be up, so how and when do they get caught, and what are the consequences of this little hippie movement they have going on? As much as the team likes to justify it as a victimless crime, as them being “barnacles on a whale,” it is surely still a crime, and they could be in a lot of trouble for it. It has the same appeal as those urban horror movies like Area 51 or Chernobyl Diaries, in that so much audience excitement is generated from the basic concept of our protagonists being somewhere they shouldn’t, with an infrastructure much bigger than themselves that could come down on them should they get caught. This is where the main draw of Secret Mall Apartment lies, which is why it’s a shame that this part of the story only accounts for a fraction of the movie.
Michael Townsend Is the Real Story

Image via Wheelhouse Creative

What Secret Mall Apartment is really about is Michael Townsend. The movie is bulked out considerably by sections about his other projects — art installations in children’s hospitals and 9/11 memorials — which are all very poignant and help to paint a picture of who Townsend is as a person and as an artist. There’s no doubt that Michael Townsend is one of those foolish heroes who has very pure intentions of community and togetherness, but his grip on the realities of life and order fails on account of his passions. His wife, who was part of the apartment team, talks about how the project took a toll on their relationship, and how her desire for a real home and a relatively normal life were just not compatible with his vagrant tendencies. Scout any major city, and you’ll find dozens of guys just like Townsend. He is the embodiment of an artist at heart, but when the selling point of the movie is the apartment project, it’s disappointing that we don’t get more of it.
The thing is, this is only a 90-odd minute documentary, and while all this filler about Townsend’s life and work is relevant and could justify itself in a longer movie, it feels like it hijacks and sidetracks the main point of Secret Mall Apartment. Perhaps they didn’t have enough original footage to make a feature-length documentary out of it. There is also a certain one-sidedness to what we see. We know this project is bigger than the eight folks who carried it out, and any good documentary looks at the story from all sides. It would be interesting to hear from the mall owners, from law enforcement, and from the guys in suits who eventually caught them. What do these key figures have to say about the hippies hiding in the walls? Are they outraged, angry, or impressed by the ballsiness of it all? We never find out. This is firmly told from Michael’s perspective, with the input of others who saw the world from largely the same angle he did, and the movie suffers from this lack of a bigger picture.
There is a simplistic charm to the movie that captures the strange in-between times of the early 2000s. Sure, technology was a thing, hence the cameras small enough to carry around undetected, but the world was still a way off from being consumed by it. If this were happening in the present day, it would be a YouTube channel, and they’d probably be busted within days because nothing can remain a secret anymore. The movie is a loving reminder of a time when things still felt possible, when the over-surveillance of modern life was a prospect of the future. The youthful, artistic energy of the core eight players is quite infectious, and it is a joy to watch what they had to keep secret for so long, and to finally give them credit for the amazing feat they accomplished. The gang acknowledges that their appearances as young, white, middle-class artists probably protected them from a lot of suspicion, and have had twenty years to think about and contextualize their project. From their side, it’s a really cool and engrossing story. It’s just a shame there isn’t more context offered as to the wider scope of what they did.
Secret Mall Apartment comes to theaters in limited release on March 21, and expands to more cities in the following weeks.

Secret Mall Apartment

Installation art becomes a way of life for eight young, hopeful Bohemians.

Release Date

March 8, 2024

Runtime

91 Minutes

Director

Jeremy Workman

Pros & Cons

Great use of original footage
The wider scope of the city’s transformation is explored
Offers an exciting, urban-exploring sort of thrill

One sided narrative lacking in wider context
Not enough runtime dedicated to the subject