Artist/activist MICHAEL TOWNSEND is from Providence, Rhode Island, and was developing his TAPE ART project when a major redevelopment in the city center was going to make him homeless. When the ginormous new Mall was being built, he thought he had spotted what seemed like an unused space behind the main construction. He and a small band of artist friends discovered a spare 750 sq feet of space that could be reached surreptitiously by some ingenious twists and turns behind the scenes. SECRET MALL APARTMENT was primarily an art project, but also a part political protest that served as their furnished home for the next 4 years before they were eventually discovered. The ‘apartment ‘ then became headline news, with seemingly the whole world wanting to share the story. Eventually, doc filmmaker Jeremy Workman came on board, and his film, which combined archive footage with current talking heads made this stunning story totally compelling

Queerguru caught up with Michael Townsend just as the film reached no 4 in Netflix’s Top Ten. Talking with Townsend, it was immediately obvious why and how it deserves its enormous success. He has such an infectious passion for the project, his art, and life, and we were immediately swept up with his sheer energy and joy. It was the perfect much-needed uplift in these troubled political times.

Before we finished our conversation, we were deeply regretting that we too had not been there hiding in the Mall. Even if we had to live on mall food for all those years.

SECRET MALL APARTMENT is totally unmissable