Unlike unrealized architectural projects, which are frequently exhibited and circulated, unrealized artworks tend to remain unnoticed or little known. But perhaps there is another form of artistic agency in the partial expression, the incomplete idea, the projection of a mere intention? Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP) seeks to document and display these works. Whether censored, forgotten, postponed, impossible, or rejected, unrealized projects form a unique testament to the speculative power of non-action.

AUP follows the publication entitled “Unbuilt Roads: 107 Unrealized Projects,” collated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Guy Tortosa after several years of international research conducted in the late 1990s. Twenty years later, the Agency of Unrealized Projects was formed in collaboration with Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle, and an open call for unrealized projects was issued for its first public exhibition at ArtBasel in 2011. The open call will continue until all unrealized art projects are compiled.

Engel-Detektor - Jakob Gautel & Jason Karaïndros

Unrealized project for Tate Gallery + ICA, 1969 - Gilbert and George

Right-of-Privacy Release - Tony Oursler

Proposal for a permanent video installation for the NYC headquarters of Sony Corporation - Dara Birnbaum

MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

The insurer - Fabrice Hybert

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

Uncompleted 1966 - and on  - John Armleder

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W10481
28.04.2014
The Geese of Feliferhof - Esther Shalev-Gerz with Jochen Gerz
WWW
Graz, Austria In 1996, Esther Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz won an international competition launched by the Austrian government to pay tribute to those who opposed the Nazi regime. The artists proposed installing four white flags carrying red inscriptio ...
Graz, Austria In 1996, Esther Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz won an international competition launched by the Austrian government to pay tribute to those who opposed the Nazi regime. The artists proposed installing four white flags carrying red inscriptio ...
W4163
23.05.2011
iaround - Anna Martinou
WWW
iaround provides an interactive platform for artists, groups and collectives who commission work within the urban landscape. The platform serves both as documentation and a social media tool as it integrates the process iaround: http://www.iaround.co ...
iaround provides an interactive platform for artists, groups and collectives who commission work within the urban landscape. The platform serves both as documentation and a social media tool as it integrates the process iaround: http://www.iaround.co ...
W5121
18.09.2012
Mo White
WWW
In 2009 I made a film whose completion has been continually postponed. I made the film quickly with materials to hand, in Super 8 format. The making of the work was an immediate reaction and response to a small event. ‘In March 2009 I bought a lime ...
In 2009 I made a film whose completion has been continually postponed. I made the film quickly with materials to hand, in Super 8 format. The making of the work was an immediate reaction and response to a small event. ‘In March 2009 I bought a lime ...
W4105
23.05.2011
Dazzle Study #10 an onwards     - Håvard Pedersen
WWW
Dazzle Study #10 an onwards were to be a series of abstract artwork, both site specific work and as individual sculptures, based on the theory of Dazzle Camouflage. The camouflage, credited to the English painter Norman Wilkinson, where first used during ...
Dazzle Study #10 an onwards were to be a series of abstract artwork, both site specific work and as individual sculptures, based on the theory of Dazzle Camouflage. The camouflage, credited to the English painter Norman Wilkinson, where first used during ...
W5489
26.10.2012
The Greatest Show on Earth is Leaving - Sascha Pohflepp
WWW
The Greatest Show on Earth is Leaving 3000 helium-filled balloons are held in place form the column-like vertical plume that resembles the one found just after the launch of a space rocket. After being released, the column dissipates under the influenc ...
The Greatest Show on Earth is Leaving 3000 helium-filled balloons are held in place form the column-like vertical plume that resembles the one found just after the launch of a space rocket. After being released, the column dissipates under the influenc ...
W4413
25.05.2011
Monuments to Real Life - Inga Burrows
WWW
Monuments to Real Life Monument 2. Twins Digital Video installation research phase began Autumn 2008 in Nuertingen Germany and was aborted in May 2009. Monument 2. ‘Twins’ is the unrealized sibling to Monument 1 ‘Well I Never…’ 2007(www.w ...
Monuments to Real Life Monument 2. Twins Digital Video installation research phase began Autumn 2008 in Nuertingen Germany and was aborted in May 2009. Monument 2. ‘Twins’ is the unrealized sibling to Monument 1 ‘Well I Never…’ 2007(www.w ...
W3603
13.05.2011
francine LeClercq
WWW
in memoriam of a work not yet done ...
in memoriam of a work not yet done ...
W5348
18.10.2012
The house skin project - Rebecca Harris
WWW
The house skin project was intended to explore the transitory and fragile nature of home. Placing lightweight muslin fabric onto the entire side of a windowless brick wall an indexical print would remain. The project got as far as a trial piece, as seen ...
The house skin project was intended to explore the transitory and fragile nature of home. Placing lightweight muslin fabric onto the entire side of a windowless brick wall an indexical print would remain. The project got as far as a trial piece, as seen ...
W4151
23.05.2011
The Treason of Images - Cornford & Cross
WWW
We were invited to submit a proposal for the Imperial War Museum, London, Commission on the aftermath of 11 September and war in Afghanistan. We proposed to install a short section of oil pipeline in Afghanistan, somewhere along one of the intended route ...
We were invited to submit a proposal for the Imperial War Museum, London, Commission on the aftermath of 11 September and war in Afghanistan. We proposed to install a short section of oil pipeline in Afghanistan, somewhere along one of the intended route ...
W3800
18.05.2011
Sinead McDonald
WWW
Part of a series of experimental explorations on the impact of medium and process on the reading of the photographic image, exploring the use of alternative print processes in altering viewers' responses. In using the historical processes of the cyanotyp ...
Part of a series of experimental explorations on the impact of medium and process on the reading of the photographic image, exploring the use of alternative print processes in altering viewers' responses. In using the historical processes of the cyanotyp ...
W4099
23.05.2011
Tyburn 
Tree
 - Rick Buckley
WWW
‘Tyburn Tree’ is a site‐specific (powder coated) steel structure. Elevated upon three vertical beams, measuring approx 6 metres in height. To stand at the original site of the infamous historical location for state executions, situated on a partiall ...
‘Tyburn Tree’ is a site‐specific (powder coated) steel structure. Elevated upon three vertical beams, measuring approx 6 metres in height. To stand at the original site of the infamous historical location for state executions, situated on a partiall ...
W10336
18.04.2014
VISION for a new PUBLIC SCHOOL - Stijn Ank
WWW
The project space is a public secondary school in a suburban area north-west of Brussels. It's an academy of visual arts, but to many pupils, most of whom have had a troublesome school career, the school is a refuge where they can retrieve their inquisiti ...
The project space is a public secondary school in a suburban area north-west of Brussels. It's an academy of visual arts, but to many pupils, most of whom have had a troublesome school career, the school is a refuge where they can retrieve their inquisiti ...
W3748
18.05.2011
SPOT ON - John Gayer
WWW
Proposed in 2009, SPOT ON could be described as participatory pointillism. My idea was relatively simple. It involved making stamping materials (circular rubber stamps + ink/paint pads in a range of colours) available to viewers so that each could contrib ...
Proposed in 2009, SPOT ON could be described as participatory pointillism. My idea was relatively simple. It involved making stamping materials (circular rubber stamps + ink/paint pads in a range of colours) available to viewers so that each could contrib ...
U9497
07.04.1997
Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman
Unbuilt Roads
commissioned by liberal daily broadsheet newspaper ironically suggesting the most unsuitable artists possible to produce the most unsuitable public sculpture never to be realized: ha ha ha, very funny we suggest one of the following: project 'Hawki ...
commissioned by liberal daily broadsheet newspaper ironically suggesting the most unsuitable artists possible to produce the most unsuitable public sculpture never to be realized: ha ha ha, very funny we suggest one of the following: project 'Hawki ...
W4643
25.05.2011
“Orgone Tanks” - Urssa Severa
WWW
“Orgone Tanks” Artistic action by Urssa Severa As an artistic action, a legion of tanks (about 50 tanks) loaded with “orgone” cannons instead of war cannons, makes a journey around the world all in a row at 40 km per hour. They are on a mission ...
“Orgone Tanks” Artistic action by Urssa Severa As an artistic action, a legion of tanks (about 50 tanks) loaded with “orgone” cannons instead of war cannons, makes a journey around the world all in a row at 40 km per hour. They are on a mission ...
W5905
18.10.2013
Temp - Matthijs Muller
WWW
Temp (pronounced: Temp-io) is a pavilion that offers protection against sun and rain. The only way to reach the pavilion is by crossing a circle of sand and inevitably leave your traces in the sand. Visitors are invited to erase their traces by rotatin ...
Temp (pronounced: Temp-io) is a pavilion that offers protection against sun and rain. The only way to reach the pavilion is by crossing a circle of sand and inevitably leave your traces in the sand. Visitors are invited to erase their traces by rotatin ...
W5070
05.09.2012
Unterirdischer Birkenwald / Subterranean Birch Forest - Römer + Römer
WWW
Unterirdischer Birkenwald / Subterranean Birch Forest Unrealized: Land Art Project Realized: Print of Wallpaper (1.80 m x 150 m) RÖMER + RÖMER, 2005 „Unterirdischer Birkenwald”
 Als Landartprojekt planten RÖMER & RÖMER den Bau eines Deich ...
Unterirdischer Birkenwald / Subterranean Birch Forest Unrealized: Land Art Project Realized: Print of Wallpaper (1.80 m x 150 m) RÖMER + RÖMER, 2005 „Unterirdischer Birkenwald”
 Als Landartprojekt planten RÖMER & RÖMER den Bau eines Deich ...
U9931
01.01.1994
Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone
Unbuilt Roads
In this project, I visit one hundred curators individually who work at contemporary museum or make shows by their own style to present my works But in this project, all my presentations must be rejected by all curators, which means each of them will en ...
In this project, I visit one hundred curators individually who work at contemporary museum or make shows by their own style to present my works But in this project, all my presentations must be rejected by all curators, which means each of them will en ...
W4063
23.05.2011
Brit Bunkley
WWW
A signpost. An elevated park. ...
A signpost. An elevated park. ...
W4404
25.05.2011
The Interopticon  - Guleah - Guy Ben-Ari and Leah Wolff
WWW
The Interopticon The Interopticon is a proposal for an alternative processes of observation and learning in the shape of a conceptual discursive platform. It regards the subject as an object of research that is simultaneously absorbing knowledge and bei ...
The Interopticon The Interopticon is a proposal for an alternative processes of observation and learning in the shape of a conceptual discursive platform. It regards the subject as an object of research that is simultaneously absorbing knowledge and bei ...
W4576
25.05.2011
UNREALIZED PROJECT PROPOSAL - Jud Yalkut
WWW
UNREALIZED PROJECT PROPOSAL JUD YALKUT “End (Less) Loops: was a proposal offered in response to an invitation to the “Perform/Create CPT’s Earth Day/ Chernobyl/Commemoration” t the Cleveland Public Theatre in Ohio for April 25-25, 1992at a s ...
UNREALIZED PROJECT PROPOSAL JUD YALKUT “End (Less) Loops: was a proposal offered in response to an invitation to the “Perform/Create CPT’s Earth Day/ Chernobyl/Commemoration” t the Cleveland Public Theatre in Ohio for April 25-25, 1992at a s ...
W3586
13.05.2011
A Starry Minute, 2007 - Katja Aglert
WWW
A Starry Minute proposes to collaborate with building owners in Times Square to turn off all of the commercial signage in the area (41 St. - 50 St. between Broadway and 7th Ave) simultaneously for one minute. A Starry Minute’s specific duration of 60 se ...
A Starry Minute proposes to collaborate with building owners in Times Square to turn off all of the commercial signage in the area (41 St. - 50 St. between Broadway and 7th Ave) simultaneously for one minute. A Starry Minute’s specific duration of 60 se ...
W4488
25.05.2011
Sketch railway viaduct - Katrin Korfmann
WWW
Sketch railway viaduct – Tiel, the Netherlands, 2009 The viaduct is located at the entrance of the city of Tiel. One passes it after leaving the highway and before entering the city. The viaduct shows a various mix of architecture with different styles ...
Sketch railway viaduct – Tiel, the Netherlands, 2009 The viaduct is located at the entrance of the city of Tiel. One passes it after leaving the highway and before entering the city. The viaduct shows a various mix of architecture with different styles ...
W3592
13.05.2011
ROTTEN SHARKS - paololuca barbieri
WWW
This Film is never been made but it has a phantom on the web at: www.rottensharks.com by Alterazioni Video EXT- NORDIC SEA – SUNDOWN A former fisherman’s boat, now just a dingy filled with a crew of desperados, is roaming along the cold ...
This Film is never been made but it has a phantom on the web at: www.rottensharks.com by Alterazioni Video EXT- NORDIC SEA – SUNDOWN A former fisherman’s boat, now just a dingy filled with a crew of desperados, is roaming along the cold ...
W4180
24.05.2011
Legge Lewis Legge, (LLL) - Legge Lewis Legge
WWW
Legge Lewis Legge, (LLL) is a public art and architecture studio based in New York and Texas operated by architect Murray Legge AIA and filmmaker Deborah E. Lewis, both in Austin, and artist Andrea Legge in New York City. Since 2001, LLL has produced a wi ...
Legge Lewis Legge, (LLL) is a public art and architecture studio based in New York and Texas operated by architect Murray Legge AIA and filmmaker Deborah E. Lewis, both in Austin, and artist Andrea Legge in New York City. Since 2001, LLL has produced a wi ...
W10322
01.01.2009
The Untouchable  - John Xaviers
WWW
Proposal submitted by John Xaviers for City as Studio to SARAI, CSDS In the form of a graphic novel/essay, I would like to explore Delhi-Gurgaon bus journey. These buses which are always crowded become the space and occasion where physical touch is per ...
Proposal submitted by John Xaviers for City as Studio to SARAI, CSDS In the form of a graphic novel/essay, I would like to explore Delhi-Gurgaon bus journey. These buses which are always crowded become the space and occasion where physical touch is per ...