Art, Culture and Heritage

Olympism Made Visible is an international photography project that looks beyond professional athletics to trace the Olympic values and their impact when sport is placed at the service of humankind through community-based activities around the world. It explores the power of sport as a tool for social development and change, as seen through the eyes of renowned international photographers who work at the intersection of fine art and social documentary.

Olympic Art Visions is a programme of commissions by the IOC to leading contemporary artists, to allow for the creation of large-scale public art installations and participatory “live performances” during and between different editions of the Games. The programme aims to bring people together through the presentation of pioneering artworks in public spaces, and to encourage them to join in a fresh dialogue around the Olympic ideals and values.

Launched by the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage at PyeongChang 2018, the Olympian Artists programme celebrates the links between sport and culture. The programme offers Olympians with artistic talent opportunities to produce and present new artworks during or between editions of the Olympic Games, and to share their inspirational life stories with a wider audience.

Since the early 20th century, each of the Olympic Games editions has left a moving image legacy: the Olympic Films. The Official Olympic Films have been inspired by the Olympic Moment to push the boundaries of the Olympic documentary tradition and create powerful cinema as part of the Olympic Games’ cultural legacy.

Since the early 20th century, posters have been created by Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) to promote and advertise this major sporting and cultural event. Some OCOGs have invited internationally renowned artists to create highly individualistic posters and become part of a powerful visual legacy forever associated with a specific edition of the Games. Many of these visual art posters have become artistic and cultural icons.

First staged at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Agora is a unique cultural platform created by the OFCH to promote Olympic culture and values among global audiences. Inspired by the Ancient Greek tradition of a social hub, the Agora is a space for cross-cultural dialogue and discovery at the intersection of sport, art, culture and education.

Olympic-related artefacts include objects such as torches, medals, trophies, artworks, posters, sports equipment, ceremony outfits, licensed products, flags, models and stamp and coin collections from the Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games, Olympic sports and the IOC’s relations with the Olympic Movement. The objects in the collections are inventoried, photographed, professionally conserved and studied, to enable us to fulfil our mission of promoting Olympism. Loans to other institutions and requests for reproductions and reallocations are managed through the Culture & Education Hub.

The IOC Archives were opened along with The Olympic Museum in 1993. They preserve and make available the administrative memory of the IOC. The documents held by the archives team come mainly from transfers from the IOC administration, plus from certain private collections. We also acquire individual items through auction sales. The team is available to assist with any research in the collections for the period covering 1894-1998.

The Images & Sounds team is responsible for acquiring, storing, documenting and providing access to the IOC’s photo, audiovisual and sound patrimony. The collections are significantly boosted after each edition of the Olympic Games, thanks to Olympic Broadcasting Services-produced video feed images, photos taken by IOC photographers and the Olympic Film. From competitions and the Closing Ceremony to behind-the- scenes shots and operations centres, the images of the Games are preserved in the archives. The digitally archived photo, video, film and sound collections can be accessed online by Olympic Movement stakeholders through the Olympic Multimedia Library (TOML).