The Secret Mall Apartment Artist: From Netflix Top 10 to a Global Tape Art Movement | Michael Townsend

MCU2026Season 7NetflixDocumentarySecret Mall ApartmentTape Art

Feb 24

What happens after you build a secret apartment inside a mall… get arrested… go viral globally… and then hit Netflix’s Top 10?

In this episode, we sit down with tape art pioneer Michael Townsend — the artist behind the secret mall apartment now featured in Secret Mall Apartment on Netflix — to unpack the full story.

But this isn’t just about the apartment.

It’s about:

The birth of tape art in 1989
A 500+ mural global movement
Why artists turned down Hollywood
The psychology of collaborative creativity
How leadership training predicts artistic ability
And the looming crisis that could end their signature blue tape forever

Michael shares the 17-year journey of protecting the story before filmmaker Jeremy Workman brought it to life — and what happened when it cracked the Netflix Top 10, competing with James Bond films.

If you care about:
• Creativity
• Community art
• Creative risk
• Indie filmmaking
• Leadership & psychology
• The intersection of art + culture

This episode is a masterclass.

🎥 Watch full episodes: https://mostlysuperheroes.com
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Drop a comment: Would you have built the secret apartment?

⏱️ Titled Timestamps

00:00 – St. Louis Mural & Boys Club Connection
03:05 – Living with the Sisters of Carondelet
07:55 – The 2007 Arrest That Went Global
10:47 – 32 Weeks in Theaters (At the Mall Itself)
12:32 – Cracking Netflix’s Top 10
15:27 – Turning Down a Hollywood Rom-Com
17:04 – The Birth of Tape Art (1989)
19:31 – The Blue Tape That Changed Everything
27:38 – 500 Murals & The Masonic Temple Self-Portrait
31:09 – The Tape Crisis (Only 500 Rolls Left)
34:21 – The Boom Projector Innovation
24:24 – Why Corporate Leaders Make Better Art

@mostlysuperheroes Built a secret mall apartment. Got arrested. Hit Netflix Top 10. Turned down Hollywood. This story is insane. @netflix Full convo is on Mostly Superheroes. Would YOU have taken the movie deal? #fyp #creativity #netflix #arttok #secretmallapartment ♬ original sound Mostly Superheroes