LOOK UP Venice · Participatory art with Roald Bradstock
Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together
with LOOK UP
One artwork. Many hands. A shared moment of creation.
Saturday, November 21, 2026 · 5:00–6:00 PM
Palazzo Michiel · Venice, Italy · Local Venice time
Join artist and Olympian Roald Bradstock to contribute your own mark to an evolving artwork, connecting people in Venice and New York through creativity, participation and the spirit of togetherness.
Discover how to take part ↓
Become part of the artwork
Your mark becomes
part of something larger.
Art begins with a gesture: a line, a colour, a word, a moment of attention. In Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together, that gesture becomes part of a shared creative experience.
During LOOK UP’s Venice Conference & Closing Celebration, children, artists, educators and visitors will be invited to draw, write, colour or make a mark within a two-inch square cut directly from Roald Bradstock’s original collaborative drawing. Each contribution brings an individual voice into a larger collective work.
01 · A piece of the original
Receive a square
Work on an individual two-inch square taken from the same original drawing that connects participants across locations.
02 · Your own expression
Make your mark
At a creative station with tables, coloured pencils and pens, draw, write, colour or respond in your own way.
03 · Collective creation
Create together
Your contribution joins marks made by other participants in Venice and Albany, extending an artwork already shaped by students in Lake Placid and Brooklyn.
The invitation is simple: bring your curiosity and let your contribution reflect your own perspective.
What does it mean to LOOK UP?
Shift perspective.
Connect through creation.
LOOK UP is an invitation to shift perspective, spark creativity and connect with the world around us. Through this participatory artwork, we bring that invitation into the act of making.
As you create, consider what it means to LOOK UP for you. Your response might be a word of hope, a colour, a symbol, a pattern or a simple line. Each small contribution offers a way to see ourselves as part of a wider human connection.
What does it mean to LOOK UP—for you?
Let your answer become a mark.
Guided by the values of effort, perseverance, inclusion and collaboration, the experience invites us to explore what we can create together.
The artwork behind the experience
5,880 squares.
One evolving work.
The original Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together is a monumental collaborative drawing measuring approximately 10 × 16.33 feet. It depicts four speed skaters, referencing the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games and the Olympic motto.
Created on inexpensive recycled paper normally used as a disposable painter’s floor covering, the work transforms a temporary material into a record of human effort and shared expression. Its fragile surface reflects the vulnerability of athletes and the fleeting nature of sporting careers.
The drawing is structured as a grid of 5,880 two-inch squares, inspired by ancient Roman mosaics. Its repeated units echo the practice, discipline and perseverance involved in both art and sport. Hundreds of students in Lake Placid and Brooklyn have already contributed their marks through educational programmes earlier in 2026.
Before the November event, Bradstock plans to develop selected squares with designs inspired by the ceiling, floor and wall mosaics of St. Mark’s Basilica, bringing Venice’s artistic heritage into dialogue with the contemporary work.
Venice ↔ Albany · Shared time, shared creativity
Across an ocean.
Within the same moment.
On November 21, participants in Venice and art teachers attending the New York State Art Teachers Association Conference in Albany are scheduled to contribute simultaneously to pieces taken from the same drawing.
Though separated by an ocean, their marks become part of one collective creative act. The artwork grows through participation, place and shared time, connecting its earlier student contributions with new voices on two continents.
A continuously updated digital image is planned to bring contributions from both locations together and allow audiences to see the work evolve during the event.
This experience explores Bradstock’s emerging Olympism Art Genre, in which sport, repetition, participation, community and the timing of creation become essential parts of the artwork.
Meet the artist & facilitator
Roald Bradstock
Roald Bradstock, known as the “Olympic Picasso,” is an artist and two-time Olympic javelin thrower who represented Great Britain at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. His practice connects art and sport through movement, colour, repetition and collective participation.
For LOOK UP Venice, he invites participants to become contributors to an evolving work, exploring how individual expression can build community across distance.
Primary press feature · 2020 · By Rachel Vancelette
Arts & the Olympic Games 2020
The first article to introduce the Olympism Art Genre and project.
Curator and interviewer Rachel Vancelette’s A Winning Combination with artist and champion Roald Bradstock, part of her Rapid Fire Interview Series, explores the relationship between art, sport and the Olympic spirit.
Further reading · November 2025
The Olympism Art Genre Explained
Explore the ideas and defining characteristics behind Roald Bradstock’s Olympism Art Genre.
Learn more · CNN coverage
Discover Roald’s
art & sport journey.
Explore CNN’s coverage of Roald Bradstock and the connection between his athletic life and artistic practice.
CNN · Feature · July 2024
The “Olympic Picasso”
CNN’s feature on Bradstock and his athletics-inspired art.
Read the CNN feature ↗CNN · Interview · July 2024
Olympism & creativity
Watch Roald discuss his work and the emerging Olympism Art Genre.
Watch the CNN interview ↗CNN · Interview · March 2016
Linking art & sport
An earlier interview exploring the two pursuits at the heart of Roald’s practice.
Watch art & sport on CNN ↗Art, sport & shared creation · South Korea, 2018
Creating together.
Moments from Roald Bradstock’s collaborative Olympic artwork project in South Korea—participants adding their own colour, gestures and expressions to a shared work.
A shared history · South Korea · 2018
From PyeongChang
to LOOK UP Venice.
Curator Rachel Vancelette and artist and Olympian Roald Bradstock were both in South Korea during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. These photographs recall that chapter of art, sport and cultural connection.
Metropolitan Palm Beach / 25A · Summer 2026
LOOK UP in print.
Read the Times Square to Venice feature exploring LOOK UP’s journey through art, fashion and cultural storytelling.
Plan your visit
Event details
Saturday, November 21, 2026 · 5:00–6:00 PM
Local Venice time
Palazzo Michiel
4391 Strada Nova · Venice, Italy
Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together with LOOK UP
A participatory artwork experience led by Roald Bradstock.
Part of the LOOK UP Venice Conference & Closing Celebration.
Conference attendance is by invitation, with RSVPs confirmed by email.
Presented within LOOK UP’s Venice programme in collaboration with the European Cultural Centre’s Personal Structures 2026: Confluences exhibition.
Explore the conference schedule →
Conference invitation & RSVP details ↗
Palazzo Michiel history & photographs ↗