Urgent Matter: Cold Take

Urgent Matter
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Urgent Matter: Cold Take is a weekly breakdown of the biggest art-world headlines—minus the artspeak. Journalist Adam Schrader, founder of Urgent Matter, reports from the front seat of his car to Colton Crews, a Texas-based outside observer with zero ties to the art world. Recorded over Zoom and minimally edited, each episode digs into the law, crime, labor, and general absurdities of the industry. For the document-driven reporting behind the talk, visit www.urgentmatter.press.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    Cold Take Ep. 7: A Jailed Artist, a Nude Portrait, and a Guide to Art Theft

    Happy Father's Day. Colton surprises Adam with a relic from a past life — the faded Brainbat skull shirt from back when Adam went by "Brainbat" and made art instead of reporting on it. They open in China, where a court delays the verdict for jailed artist Gao Zhen by three more months. Adam breaks down how the 70-year-old, a U.S. permanent resident, was detained on a visit home and charged under a 2021 law for art critical of Mao — work he made, sold, and kept in the United States — raising questions about reach, retroactivity, and whether he ever comes home. From there, Adam recaps the Work in Progress fair, a participatory anti-Basel where the art gets made in front of you, and where he stripped down for a staged nude portrait. He reads the opening lines, Colton offers his review, and the two argue about auctions, dealers, and whether the whole secondary market is just Pokémon cards for rich people. Next, workers at the Denver Art Museum ratify what's believed to be Colorado's first museum union contract while Seattle Art Museum staff vote to organize — the occasion for Urgent Matter to launch its new U.S. museum labor tracker. In politics, artist and assembly member Claire Valdez wins her NY-7 primary, all but guaranteeing a seat in Congress. The guys debate whether more artists in government is actually a good idea, and kick off Urgent Matter's first-ever contest along the way. Jupiter Contemporary settles a New York eviction and faces default in an artist's federal suit — a way into the bigger problem of galleries collapsing with artists' work still inside, with detours through stolen Legos, the Louvre heist, and a not-at-all-serious guide to committing art theft. Finally, an Urgent Matter original: five years after the Surfside condo collapse, NIST pins down the cause — and Urgent Matter traces the late developer's widow to a quiet collection that includes a work by Louise Bourgeois, raising questions about accountability, money, and why the art press is so obsessed with unmasking who's buying. Cold Take is Urgent Matter's weekly art-news podcast — Adam Schrader and musician Colton Crews (Burning Slow, American Sycamore) trading artspeak for direct, skeptical, outsider takes on the stories actually moving the art world. Read more at urgentmatter.press.

    55 min

  2. Jun 22

    Cold Take Ep. 6: The World's Worst Photographer, the Obamas' Double Portrait and a Vinyl Archive

    Urgent Matter founder and editor Adam Schrader and longtime friend Colton Crews — a Texas-based everyman and musician with the bands Burning Slow and American Sycamore — return for a loose, lightly edited run through the week's art news, trading artspeak for direct, skeptical takes. The episode opens with Icelandair's "Really Bad Photographer" contest, an open call built on the premise that even a hopeless shooter can't make Iceland look bad. Adam walks through the winning entries — blurry, grainy, thumb-in-the-frame disasters — and the prize behind them: $50,000 and a 10-day trip to shoot the country for the airline. From there, they turn to the first official dual portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama, Njideka Akunyili Crosby's "The Obamas: Springing Forth," unveiled at the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The conversation circles a thornier question about the gap between an "official" portrait and an authorized one, and how a former president's legacy gets curated. A brief detour lands on A.I. artist Refik Anadol and his new museum. The episode also digs into a call for vinyl on the Lower East Side, where artist Pablo Helguera and the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center are gathering donated and loaned record collections for Fonoteca, a public listening archive of Latin American and Latinx music tied to the exhibition Historias Reveladas. Adam and Colton weigh what a pile of donated records reveals about a community — and Adam shares how a past Helguera project surfaced a letter linked to Simón Bolívar. Cold Take is a weekly podcast from Urgent Matter built around direct, lightly edited conversations about the art world's biggest stories, stripped of artspeak and institutional PR language. Read Urgent Matter: https://www.urgentmatter.press Follow Urgent Matter: Instagram: @urgent.matter X: @TheUrgentMatter Colton Crews: American Sycamore Burning Slow

    33 min

  3. Jun 11

    Cold Take Ep. 5: The MILF Magnet, the Whale Mural and MoMA’s Mystery List

    Adam Schrader and Colton Crews run through a strange week in art-world news, starting with the Vagina Museum’s repeatedly stolen MILF magnet and what museums can do when visitors turn an exhibit into an accidental gift-shop opportunity. They then discuss artist Wyland’s lawsuit over the destruction of his longtime Dallas whale mural, weighing public art, property rights and FIFA’s role in the World Cup-related repainting. The episode also looks at a dropped Miami Beach case involving an artist arrested after using washable chalk paint outside Art Basel Miami Beach with his young daughter. Finally, Adam explains how website-tracking software revealed unexplained changes to MoMA’s trustee list, including the removal and reappearance of Sharon Percy Rockefeller’s name, Daniel S. Och remaining off the list, and Leon Black still appearing as a trustee. Read Urgent Matter: ⁠https://www.urgentmatter.press⁠ Follow Urgent Matter: Instagram: @urgent.matter X: @TheUrgentMatter Colton Crews: American Sycamore Burning Slow

    36 min

  4. Jun 3

    Cold Take Ep. 4: Art Crime, War Photography and A.I. Ansel Adams

    Adam Schrader and Colton Crews return for another loose, mildly prepared episode of Cold Take, the Urgent Matter podcast about art-world news, lawsuits, crime, culture and whatever else. This week, Adam talks through Urgent Matter’s recent FOIA work, an NPR interview tied to his reporting on a censored UNT show, Giles Duley’s thoughts on war photography, and an artist in Gaza making work amid devastation. Then the episode turns toward the stranger corners of the art world: the Brent Sikkema murder case, A.I. colorization of an Ansel Adams photograph, and the Robert Indiana dispute involving a so-called ghost-signature machine. Read Urgent Matter: ⁠⁠https://www.urgentmatter.press⁠⁠ Follow Urgent Matter: Instagram: @urgent.matter X: @TheUrgentMatter Colton Crews: ⁠American Sycamore⁠ ⁠Burning Slow⁠

    34 min

  5. May 16

    Cold Take Ep. 3: Epstein Files, Space Art and Censorship Fights

    In the third episode of Cold Take, Urgent Matter founder and editor Adam Schrader is joined again by longtime friend Colton Crews for a loose, skeptical conversation about art, public records, censorship and propaganda. The episode opens with a New York reading room filled with printed copies of the Epstein files — a project Adam and Colton discuss as part archive, part political provocation and part art installation. From there, they turn to Tim Makepeace’s NASA-inspired museum show in Washington, D.C., and the question of what happens when artists are given access to federal science programs. The conversation then moves to a Long Island student who reached a $125,000 settlement after her pro-Palestinian parking-space artwork was painted over by school officials. Adam and Colton use the case to talk about how small acts of censorship can become much larger stories once institutions try to make them disappear. They also revisit Urgent Matter’s reporting on the canceled Marka27 exhibition at the University of North Texas, where public records showed administrators worried about political “barking from Austin” before the show was called off. The episode closes with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Art and War” exhibition, which features American anti-war works by artists including Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist as Iranian cultural institutions use art in wartime messaging. Cold Take is a weekly podcast from Urgent Matter built around direct, lightly edited conversations about the art world’s biggest stories, stripped of artspeak and institutional PR language. Read Urgent Matter: ⁠⁠https://www.urgentmatter.press⁠⁠ Follow Urgent Matter: Instagram: @urgent.matter X: @TheUrgentMatter Colton Crews: ⁠American Sycamore⁠ ⁠Burning Slow⁠

    43 min

  6. May 7

    Cold Take Ep. 2: A Demolition, an Epstein Resignation and a Murder Trial

    In the second episode of Cold Take, Urgent Matter founder and editor Adam Schrader once again records from the front seat of his car while his kids sleep, joined by longtime friend Colton Crews for a loose, skeptical breakdown of the week’s art news. The episode opens at the Venice Biennale, where geopolitical tensions and cultural backlash continue to collide. After Iran’s withdrawal from this year’s exhibition and ongoing criticism surrounding the participation of Russia and Israel, Adam and Colton discuss the broader question of whether anyone outside the art world actually understands—or even cares about—the biennale system at all. From there, they turn to Detroit, where an artist is suing the city after officials demolished part of his museum complex, allegedly destroying 33 murals in the process. The episode also digs into the resignation of longtime Bard College president Leon Botstein following the release of an independent report examining his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Other topics include bizarre language used in a Justice Department filing tied to the White House East Wing lawsuit, and new developments in the alleged murder-for-hire plot surrounding the killing of dealer Brent Sikkema. The episode closes with a story from Las Vegas about sculptures allegedly stolen from a community arts studio serving children. Cold Take is a weekly podcast from Urgent Matter built around direct, lightly edited conversations about the art world’s biggest stories, stripped of artspeak and institutional PR language. For more document-driven reporting behind these headlines, visit urgentmatter.press.

    52 min

  7. Apr 30

    Cold Take Ep. 1: A Freaky Tourist, a Fake Museum, and Other Headlines

    In the debut episode of Cold Take, Urgent Matter founder and editor Adam Schrader records from the front seat of his car while his kids are asleep, joined by his longtime friend Colton Crews for a raw, lightly edited breakdown of the week’s art news. Framed as an “everyman” perspective, Texas-based Colton—an outsider to the New York art world—reacts in real time as Adam walks through the headlines. The conversation starts in Italy, where a tourist was arrested after climbing a 500-year-old statue on a pre-wedding dare, sparking questions about cultural heritage, enforcement, and what actually counts as “damage.” From there, they turn to Taiwan, where a prominent artist’s rape conviction has led to the rescinding of a national arts award—raising questions about merit, punishment, and whether institutions can separate the work from the person. The episode also takes on a “museum that doesn’t exist” opening an exhibition in Tribeca, a razor-thin museum union vote in Connecticut, and the ongoing wave of protest actions inside cultural institutions. This episode launches a weekly series that trades artspeak for direct, sometimes skeptical, takes on the art world’s biggest stories. For the full, document-driven reporting behind these headlines, visit www.urgentmatter.press.

    45 min
  • 7 Episodes

About

Urgent Matter: Cold Take is a weekly breakdown of the biggest art-world headlines—minus the artspeak. Journalist Adam Schrader, founder of Urgent Matter, reports from the front seat of his car to Colton Crews, a Texas-based outside observer with zero ties to the art world. Recorded over Zoom and minimally edited, each episode digs into the law, crime, labor, and general absurdities of the industry. For the document-driven reporting behind the talk, visit www.urgentmatter.press.

Information

  • Creator
    Urgent Matter
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Urgent Matter
  • Show Website
    Urgent Matter: Cold Take