A local musician who performs out of an inflatable igloo faces the prospect of having to replace his unusual moveable venue after it disappeared from his van last week.
Tom Montagliano is a spatial sound artist: he composes electronic pieces specifically for immersive listening experiences, wherein his audience takes in his pieces within a circle of speakers.
He’s found a receptive audience in Brooklyn, and is developing a following across the country after spending this past summer touring to festivals throughout the United States. He brings his “immersive sound bath” experience to life within the confines of a 16-foot-tall, 32-foot-diameter inflatable igloo that was made to order for him in China.
Last week, Montagliano left his 2001 Ford Econoline parked near the Kosciszko Pool in Bed-Stuy and discovered it was gone when he came to move it for alternate side parking.
Hours after filing a police report for a missing vehicle, he headed into Bushwick on his bike and stumbled upon his car himself, parked near Willoughby and Bushwick with the ignition ripped out, the steering column destroyed, and the stereo, a generator and his igloo missing.
Montagliano filed a new police report and his car is now in the shop getting about $1,000 worth of repairs.
He can understand why the thieves took his generator, but the loss of the igloo is a little harder to comprehend: it weighs about 300 pounds uninflated, and it was taken without the device he uses to inflate it.
“I don’t think the people who stole it know what it is,” he says. It seems likely to him that the igloo, which has become central to his performance work and which cost approximately $3,000 and took three months to purchase and receive, was simply dumped.
The igloo was last seen wrapped in a green tarp and bundled closed with ropes; if you’ve seen it, contact tom at immersive sound baths dot com; he’ll be very happy to hear from you.
Featured image: Inside Tom Montagliano’s immersive sound bath igloo. Photo courtesy of Tom Montagliano.