"It started as a sworn secret between eight New England artists. In 2003, Michael Townsend and seven friends moved into the Providence Place Mall. They'd discovered an empty 750 square-foot loft space. They hauled up furniture - a couch, a PlayStation, TV, waffle-maker. Hauled up two tons of cinder blocks for an apartment wall. In 2007, mall security discovered the apartment. Townsend was arrested and banned from the mall. He named no names."
"For years after, any documentation lived only as digital camera footage, taken in the days of the flipphone and meant to be "parked on a hard drive," Townsend told me. Memories to think about from time to time, like a Polaroid in a desk drawer: a portrait of the artists as young mall-dwellers. Today, that footage is streaming on Netflix, as part of Jeremy Workman's gripping documentary, "Secret Mall Apartment.""
Eight New England artists discovered and occupied an empty 750-square-foot loft inside Providence Place Mall in 2003. They furnished the space with a couch, PlayStation, TV, waffle-maker, and built an apartment wall using two tons of cinder blocks. The group lived there for four years until mall security discovered the apartment in 2007; Michael Townsend was arrested and banned and he named no names. Years of flipphone-era digital footage remained private, described as memories "parked on a hard drive." That footage now streams on Netflix as Jeremy Workman's documentary Secret Mall Apartment, giving the story wider exposure.
Read at Boston.com
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