Photo Credit: Crawlspace Media
Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri—producers and co-hosts of the true crime podcasts Missing Maura Murray and Crawlspace—recently launched their newest series, Empty Frames. Exploring the unsolved 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, the podcast dives deep into theories, potential leads and the ongoing drama surrounding the crime. We caught up with the duo to discuss their latest mystery.
Why do you think the Gardner Museum heist remains relevant?
Tim: It’s an insane mystery that is still ongoing.
Lance: And of course, the empty frames are still there. It’s always a reminder. … And then the amount, the dollar sign that’s on these stolen paintings is almost like a video game number. It’s like $500 million. You might as well say a few zillion. It’s so much money and no one’s ever found them. No one’s ever had a solid lead.
What sets Empty Frames apart from your past podcasts?
Tim: It’s a little bit lighter in subject matter because we’ve been dealing with missing people mostly. But we’re also both from Boston, so it’s something that really hits close to home.
Lance: It’s a lot more personal I would say.
If you could walk out of a museum with one piece of art, what would it be?
Lance: I’ve already thought about it. Tim and I went down to D.C., and they had a Vermeer and Dutch artists exhibition. We ended up walking through the museum and we saw Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait—it’s just stunning to see that. I didn’t even take a picture of it because it felt wrong after seeing it up close.
Tim: That painting really spoke to me like it spoke to you as well. I really love The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, but I know it’s not in a museum right now, so I guess my answer is the same as yours.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the podcast?
Tim: We hope that someone hears it and says, “Hey, I feel like I saw that painting in Uncle Joey’s basement.”
Lance: Also, people really should go to the museum. …You hear about it all the time, but it doesn’t really resonate until you’re in there, until you take a trip to the museum and learn about it and you see what else is in there. So we hope to just kind of open up community and public awareness to this loss and where it came from.
19 million average monthly downloads of Radiotopia podcasts. The Radiotopia Live: East Coast Tour comes to Boston on May 13, stopping at the Wilbur to showcase its network’s podcasts like 99% Invisible, Radio Diaries, Criminal and more.
THE IMPROPER’S 2018 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | MOVIES | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ART | DANCE
Ear Buds
Download these podcast episodes before the live shows come to town
By Julia Aparicio March 9, 2018
Q&A with Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri
Photo Credit: Crawlspace Media
Lance Reenstierna and Tim Pilleri—producers and co-hosts of the true crime podcasts Missing Maura Murray and Crawlspace—recently launched their newest series, Empty Frames. Exploring the unsolved 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, the podcast dives deep into theories, potential leads and the ongoing drama surrounding the crime. We caught up with the duo to discuss their latest mystery.
Why do you think the Gardner Museum heist remains relevant?
Tim: It’s an insane mystery that is still ongoing.
Lance: And of course, the empty frames are still there. It’s always a reminder. … And then the amount, the dollar sign that’s on these stolen paintings is almost like a video game number. It’s like $500 million. You might as well say a few zillion. It’s so much money and no one’s ever found them. No one’s ever had a solid lead.
What sets Empty Frames apart from your past podcasts?
Tim: It’s a little bit lighter in subject matter because we’ve been dealing with missing people mostly. But we’re also both from Boston, so it’s something that really hits close to home.
Lance: It’s a lot more personal I would say.
If you could walk out of a museum with one piece of art, what would it be?
Lance: I’ve already thought about it. Tim and I went down to D.C., and they had a Vermeer and Dutch artists exhibition. We ended up walking through the museum and we saw Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait—it’s just stunning to see that. I didn’t even take a picture of it because it felt wrong after seeing it up close.
Tim: That painting really spoke to me like it spoke to you as well. I really love The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, but I know it’s not in a museum right now, so I guess my answer is the same as yours.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the podcast?
Tim: We hope that someone hears it and says, “Hey, I feel like I saw that painting in Uncle Joey’s basement.”
Lance: Also, people really should go to the museum. …You hear about it all the time, but it doesn’t really resonate until you’re in there, until you take a trip to the museum and learn about it and you see what else is in there. So we hope to just kind of open up community and public awareness to this loss and where it came from.
19 million average monthly downloads of Radiotopia podcasts. The Radiotopia Live: East Coast Tour comes to Boston on May 13, stopping at the Wilbur to showcase its network’s podcasts like 99% Invisible, Radio Diaries, Criminal and more.
THE IMPROPER’S 2018 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | MOVIES | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ART | DANCE
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