Transcript: Cold Take Ep. 15 on the NSA's bin Laden exhibit, Leon Black and a visa denial

Adam Schrader and Colton Crews recorded the 15th episode of Cold Take, Urgent Matter's weekly art-news podcast, on September 23, during New York Art Week.

Schrader opens with fools, Mamie Green's dance adaptation of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love, which he saw that night in a room at Ace Hotel New York.

The hosts then discuss Hyperallergic's new paywall and sign-in requirement, which came six years after its founders told readers membership would not mean a paywall. They also talk through how Urgent Matter pays for its own reporting.

Schrader walks through the National Cryptologic Museum's new exhibit on the NSA's hunt for Osama bin Laden. The exhibit says a 1998 press leak led bin Laden to stop using his satellite phone, a story The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler called an "urban myth" in 2005.

He then explains the House vote holding Leon Black in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas in its Epstein investigation. Black, a former MoMA board chairman, remains a trustee, and the hosts ask whether his ties to Epstein have cost the museum visitors or donors.

Black has denied any role in Epstein's crimes.

The hosts discuss Iza Mendoza, the Mexican printmaker whose first New York solo show opened at cia gallery in Ridgewood, Queens, without her after the U.S. denied her visa. The conversation turns to whether the United States is losing scholars and artists, which Crews disputes.

Schrader also points listeners to emails he obtained through a FOIA request showing NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman asked whether anything of historical significance would be lost in the Goddard library closure.

The episode ends with his interview with Kirsten Dickerson, whose company Artist & Nomad runs craft tours that pair travelers with artisans in Morocco, India, Kenya, Mexico and elsewhere.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

This transcript was generated by A.I. from the episode audio and edited by Urgent Matter for clarity. It may contain errors. Check the audio before quoting. Passages the hosts read aloud from other news outlets are summarized in brackets.