The best of art, culture and travel for every country

Chile has selected Alfredo Jaar to exhibit in their National Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale. His site-specific project will be unveiled on 29 May 2013 during the Biennale preview.

From trendy and intimate boutiques to grand and iconic hotels, we take a look at ten of the best in Rio, one of South America's most popular destinations.

Known for a haunting voice and socially conscious songs, Argentinian folk singer Mercedes Sosa became legendary throughout Latin America. Sosa was often called ‘the voice of the voiceless’ and remains one of the most admired icons of international music.

Peruvian artist Diego Lama creates satirical works which question the viewer’s preconceptions about art. His work is based on our subjective judgments and behavior towards art, and its inherent link to identity, social agendas and power relations.

Roberto Bolaño’s fiction is formally daring, interpersonally weaved, mythically weighted and of a resolutely revolutionary mindset. As Thomas Kendall discovers, Bolaño’s own life has something of the nomadic rebellious qualities of his fiction.

Roberto Matta was a groundbreaking Chilean artist who prefigured Abstract Expressionism with his surreal and monumental works.

Long known for the quality of its film industry, Argentina's cinema production suffered severe curtailment in the 1970s under the military junta. Since then, however, emerging new directors are propelling Argentina's film industry back into the spotlight.

Venezuela makes a group effort to highlight its burgeoning urban creative scene in the 55th Venice Biennale with works by the Venezuelan Urban Artists Collective, curated byrenowned local artist and poet, Juan Calzadilla.

Colombian artist Doris Salcedo sees art as a means of reconciling with a difficult past. The artist employs materials such as hair, skin, shoes and other domestic relics in order to create sculptures charged with a sense of memory and loss.