Instagram is taking its photographs from phone screens to gallery walls, with its first-ever photography exhibition in India. Being held in Kolkata from Jan. 7 to 9, Bengal's Diversity in Pictures captures stories from the eastern Indian state through the lenses of local Instagrammers.

The Parliamentary and Government taxpayer-funded art collections hold a combined 22,000 artworks, which are intended to promote British art and cultural diplomacy. But only a few of the pieces can be viewed for a fee by tourists visiting the House of Parliament, Sarah Cascone reports for artnet News. 

The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) [will] provide "permanent works of American art for U.S. embassies worldwide, contributing to the U.S. Department of State's mission of cultural diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding within the diplomatic community and the international public […] Exciting cultural diplomacy initiatives can be seen through their site-specific commissions.

“Open a Door to Israel,” an exhibit comprised of nine huge door-shaped screens that visitors can open to learn about different aspects of Israel, debuted at the Tel Aviv Port in December and will begin a worldwide tour this month at the Vitoriano Museum in Rome. [...] “Open a Door to Israel,” an exhibit comprised of nine huge door-shaped screens that visitors can open to learn about different aspects of Israel, debuted at the Tel Aviv Port in December and will begin a worldwide tour this month at the Vitoriano Museum in Rome.

Works of art from the Government Art Collection (GAC) are displayed in UK Government buildings in nearly every capital city, making it the most dispersed collection of British art in the world. The role of the Collection is to promote British art while contributing to cultural diplomacy.

It's this youthful energy that is fueling the museum's exhibit "Making Africa — A Continent of Contemporary Design" (through February 21, 2016), which showcases 120 artists and designers. Although there's no way to fully capture the essence of all 54 countries, Joos says, she considers this a "starting point to discuss the continent in another perspective." Or rather, many perspectives — for two years leading up to the exhibit, the museum conducted meetings in cities all over Africa to ask questions like, "What is African design?"

Shahzia Sikander and Jim Shaw are two artists who keep accounts of the visual tropes that faith-based systems employ to disseminate, legislate and perpetuate the cultural codes prescribing and proscribing human behavior, yet react to these systems by breaking up the prescribed regiments that religious imagery imposes.

As research fellow at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Shoshan has focused on the progressive way that the Netherlands contributes to UN peacekeeping missions.  [...] By linking cultural research to architectural research, the Dutch submission to Venice aims to make visible the spatial challenges and opportunities of this complex situation.