The Jesús Soto Museum of Modern Art is the unexpected cultural anchor of Ciudad Bolívar — a 1973 modernist building designed by Carlos Raúl Villanueva that houses one of the strongest kinetic and op-art collections in South America. The permanent display includes works by Soto himself (he is the master of vibrating colour fields suspended on wire) plus Calder, Vasarely, Le Parc, and other contemporaries from the kinetic and op-art movements.
The museum sits on the eastern edge of the old town, a $5 taxi ride from the centre. The exterior alone — a concrete grid set in landscaped grounds — is worth a look. Open Tuesday to Sunday; reduced hours during the country's recurrent economic difficulties.