1) French President Proposes Safe Storage for Threatened Artefacts

French president Francoise Hollande has proposed that Louvre may help to safely store artefacts that have been rescued from war-torn areas. The statement is relevant to the planning of the Paris museum’s new storage facility in Liévin, near the Louvre-Lens, a satellite museum located around 200 kilometers north of Paris. Hollande was opening an exhibition at the Lens museum that showcased some ancient artefacts from what was, at the time, Mesopotamia. The French president also noted that the United Arab Emirates will soon host a conference to address the need for other countries to step in and protect threatened cultural objects in regions such as Iraq and Syria.

2) Jeremy Shaw Wins Sobey Art Award

Jeremy Shaw, formerly of the Yukon Territory, has won this year’s Sobey award for Canadian contemporary art. Shaw has been based in Berlin for the past decade. The recognition comes with a monetary prize of $50,000 CAD. The four other finalists - Brenda Draney, Charles Stankievich, Hajra Waheed and William Robinson - were awarded runner-up prizes of $10,000. Shaw is known for his work across mediums and disciplines, often looking at altered states and transcendental experiences.

3) Mexican Architectural Firm Creates Renderings of Proposed Border Wall

A group of architectural interns from the Gudalarajara-based firm Estudio 3.14 have created a digital mock-up of Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the United States – Mexico border. Seeing as the far-fetched proposal included Mexico footing the bill, the Mexican architects decided that it should showcase the country’s cultural heritage by paying homage to the work of Luis Barragán, a Pritzker Prize-winning architects who hails from Mexico and is well-known for his dramatic pink walls. In addition to its garish outward appearance, the mock-up wall will house a prison complex, and possibly an indoor shopping center, employing up to 6 million personnel and staff.

4) High-Profile Artists Making Huge Donations to Clinton Campaign

As the U.S. presidential election draws closer, sources have revealed sizable donations to the Clinton campaign by many high-profile artists including Jeff Koons, Chuck Close and Deborah Kass. While United States federal law limits direct, individual campaign donations to $2,700, donations to so-called Public Action Committees are unregulated. The aforementioned artists have been creating politicized works, in support of Clinton, with much of the sales proceeds going to these PACs, such as Jeff Koons’ donation of $50,000 to a committee called Correct the Record. So far, Clinton’s campaign has raised well over one billion dollars, while Trump’s has raised just under $800 million.