Growing up in the 80s and 90s, hanging out at the mall was the norm. My friends and I would go and walk around for hours. While there, we would either window shop or buy some random stuff we thought was cool. I worked at the Waldenbooks in the Lincolnwood Mall until its final day and remember how creepy it was walking through the backside of the mall to throw away the trash. It was like a different world walking in the back with the exposed concrete walls and walkways that took you around the mall. It was like a secret world that only mall employees got to experience. 

In 1999, the Providence Place Mall opened in Providence, Rhode Island, and it was supposed to be the destination of the town. What ended up happening was the mall split the town, which caused areas to be redeveloped. Michael Townsend was an artist who lived in the adjacent area and lost his art space due to these redevelopments. One day, while at the mall, Michael spotted an unused corridor and decided to make it a place to hang out with his friends. The small space turned into an apartment for Michael and seven friends. 

Secret Mall Apartment is a fascinating documentary about the eight artists living inside this mall and not being caught for almost four years. Watching the group plan their tactics on moving in and bringing in furniture is truly captivating. At first, it seems like it would be impossible for them to stay there, but as you see them sneaking in, you start to wonder when they will be caught. The group recognizes their privilege at one point when questioned by security and knows that if they had been of a different skin tone, it would have been over. 

The group moving into the mall is also a social commentary on what was going on in Providence at the time. Some of the stores in the mall were too expensive for the people who lived in the area. The mall brought in developers who bought land around the mall, which increased rent for the people who already lived there. Moving into the mall was one part art installation and one part protest. 

Throughout the documentary, we learn more about Michael Townsend and the impact he had on artists in the area. He is an art teacher who makes “Tape Art” in the local children’s hospital. He organized a team to create a mural for the emergency workers of the Oklahoma City Bombing. He went to New York after 9-11 and created memorials for all the people who lost their lives on that fateful day. Michael Townsend is an artist who uses his art to make a point and create conversation. Secret Mall Apartment shows us the impact this apartment/installation piece had on the city because we are still talking about it twenty-plus years later. 

Final Thoughts: Secret Mall Apartment is a love letter to art and how it can transform the world around us if only for a moment. Michael Townsend and his friends show us that the impossible can be done with integrity and ingenuity. The documentary is a time capsule of mall culture back in the day, and the effects it has on the people around it. It truly is a fun documentary of artists trying to change the world. Director Jeremy Workman masterfully blends interviews with the footage taken by the artists to tell this compelling story. 

Kid-Friendly: The documentary is appropriate for kids ages 10 and up. Kids will learn about art and how it is used to help heal those around them. It is also great for them to see how mall culture was in the early 90s-2000s. 

Violence: There is no violence in the documentary, but there are a few curse words.