Artist builds secret apartment in mall's parking garage

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up a secret apartment inside a shopping mall's parking garage as part of a project on mall life.

Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the 750-square-foot apartment beginning in 2003 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time.

The artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the loft hidden from the outside world.

More here.

So, I've been under the mistaken impression for several years now that, as virtual public spaces, shopping malls have to respect free speech rights. Not so, unless you're in one of a handful of states that have stronger free speech protections that what's guaranteed by the US Constitution. Nonetheless, even if you don't think it's good art, this apartment project is indeed art, free expression, free speech. Rhode Island isn't really an arch-conservative state: I think these guys should have fashioned their defense along free speech lines, hoping for a sympathetic jury, or maybe even some kind of groundbreaking ruling from the bench. I mean, free speech is very American, after all.

Oh well. Too late now.

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