“Secret Mall Apartment,” a Protest for Place

In 2003, a group of Rhode Island artists created a secret living space within a busy shopping mall and lived there off and on, undetected, for about four years. Why? The new documentary Secret Mall Apartment, now in select theaters nationwide, tells the story of eight Providence-based artists who, although they periodically hint at their left-leaning politics, admirably dedicate their time and skills to projects paying tribute to the first-responder firemen who perished on 9/11, the victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and sick children in hospitals. It’s touching. You root for them. Oh, and they live in their local mall. Directed by Jeremy Workman and produced by actor Jesse Eisenberg, the documentary features grainy 2000s cell-phone camera footage of the cast of characters—all artists but also intimate friends—as well as modern-day interviews about their time living in the mall. The ringleader is Michael Townsend, who is fifty-four now and hatched the mall apartment projec ... Read full article.