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.

Brücke Wein-Kanal Arch. Hermann Czech, Wein - Franz West

Engel-Detektor - Jakob Gautel & Jason Karaïndros

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero

The World Record - General Idea

The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois

"400" - Manfred Pernice

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3506
11.05.2011
Evidence of Difference - Sarah Hemm
WWW
Evidence of Difference criteria: must take one photograph every day of 2011 that will represent evidence of my difference
work must answer the question, “what makes me different? what am I doing today that is different than everyone else? what se ...
Evidence of Difference criteria: must take one photograph every day of 2011 that will represent evidence of my difference
work must answer the question, “what makes me different? what am I doing today that is different than everyone else? what se ...
W4560
25.05.2011
The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art  - Bill Dolson
WWW
Bill Dolson The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art "Why is there no art in space, why do we have no exhibitions in the sky? Up to now we have left it up to war to light up the sky..." Otto Piene 1961 Reentry is a series of p ...
Bill Dolson The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art "Why is there no art in space, why do we have no exhibitions in the sky? Up to now we have left it up to war to light up the sky..." Otto Piene 1961 Reentry is a series of p ...
W5143
23.09.2012
The Phoenix Atlas - The Phoenix Atlas
WWW
The Phoenix Atlas is an Internet-based art collective, run by Dutch curator/art critic Okke De Groot, Brazilian artist Ana Laura Ferreira and Croatian art writer/publisher Jan Karan. The project focuses on writing as a practice between fiction, art criti ...
The Phoenix Atlas is an Internet-based art collective, run by Dutch curator/art critic Okke De Groot, Brazilian artist Ana Laura Ferreira and Croatian art writer/publisher Jan Karan. The project focuses on writing as a practice between fiction, art criti ...
W5303
17.10.2012
Be water my friend - Alexandros Pissourios
WWW
Project title : "Be water my friend" proposal by: Maria Anastassiou, Eleni Bagaki, Alexandros Pissourios "Be water my friend" is a response to an open call by p_public to utilise the deserted swimming pool of the "Xenia" hotel in Crete as a video i ...
Project title : "Be water my friend" proposal by: Maria Anastassiou, Eleni Bagaki, Alexandros Pissourios "Be water my friend" is a response to an open call by p_public to utilise the deserted swimming pool of the "Xenia" hotel in Crete as a video i ...
U9887
01.01.1995
MODELL OF AN OFFICE FOR A COUPLE OF TWINS, BOTH 1,38 TALL" - Tobias Rehrenberg
Unbuilt Roads
WOOD, PLASTIC, 2 CHAIRS ca 180 x 150 x 170 cm PIECE OF THE SHOW "CANCELLED PROJECTS" IN MUSEUM FRIEDERICIANUM KASSEL SUMMER 95 Previous Publications (?) NO Existing Documents (photos, drawings, models): ENCLOSED ...
WOOD, PLASTIC, 2 CHAIRS ca 180 x 150 x 170 cm PIECE OF THE SHOW "CANCELLED PROJECTS" IN MUSEUM FRIEDERICIANUM KASSEL SUMMER 95 Previous Publications (?) NO Existing Documents (photos, drawings, models): ENCLOSED ...
W4691
26.05.2011
ZOE MACKLER
WWW
George W. Bush Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity ...
George W. Bush Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity ...
W3687
16.05.2011
Pet Food - Alexandra McGlynn
WWW
In most Western countries there is a taboo concerning the eating of animals regarded as 'pets' for example - horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, reptiles, large insects etcetera that does not exist in Asia or other parts of the world. In C ...
In most Western countries there is a taboo concerning the eating of animals regarded as 'pets' for example - horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, reptiles, large insects etcetera that does not exist in Asia or other parts of the world. In C ...
W3893
20.05.2011
The Divina Commedia triptych - Javier Toro Blum
WWW
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. ...
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. ...
W4515
25.05.2011
Viktor Timofeev
WWW
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
W4355
25.05.2011
Veil of Ignorance - James Bae
WWW
Veil of Ignorance The proposal is to hold a weekly discourse on the site of the now demolished Stadtschloß and Palast der Republik. The chosen site is heavily charged with history, having been the seat of the Brandenburg Electors, Prussian Kings, and ...
Veil of Ignorance The proposal is to hold a weekly discourse on the site of the now demolished Stadtschloß and Palast der Republik. The chosen site is heavily charged with history, having been the seat of the Brandenburg Electors, Prussian Kings, and ...
W3629
14.05.2011
Central Park Monument to the Nimbus of Victory, 2009 - Peter Joslyn
WWW
The monument is one of a series of proposals for large scale public sculptures to celebrate the visionary nature of the artist. The aim is to bring to the world an understanding of the artists point of view by providing the spectacular, and by sharing the ...
The monument is one of a series of proposals for large scale public sculptures to celebrate the visionary nature of the artist. The aim is to bring to the world an understanding of the artists point of view by providing the spectacular, and by sharing the ...
W4807
07.08.2012
Wreck  - Boris Ondreička
WWW
sitting on the driver´s seat of the car wreck reading poems / singing lyrics aloud a couple having sex under that wreck 30 minutes 30 people listening / watching silently standing around and around midnight Wreck, Boris Ondreička ...
sitting on the driver´s seat of the car wreck reading poems / singing lyrics aloud a couple having sex under that wreck 30 minutes 30 people listening / watching silently standing around and around midnight Wreck, Boris Ondreička ...
U9591
01.01.1987
The World Record - General Idea
Unbuilt Roads
A commission for the SkyDome sports stadium in Toronto, Canada. "General Idea's World Record takes the form of an Illuminated sign suspended overhead and running for the complete circumference of the SkyDome's circular interior street. It will display ...
A commission for the SkyDome sports stadium in Toronto, Canada. "General Idea's World Record takes the form of an Illuminated sign suspended overhead and running for the complete circumference of the SkyDome's circular interior street. It will display ...
W3987
21.05.2011
MEMORY CONFETTI  - STEPHEN j SHANABROOK / VERONIKA GEORGIEVA
WWW
The project MEMORY CONFETTI consists of two parts: through various social network sites we will introduce the project and request the public’s time based participation in sending us images that will be turned into 35 mm slides. These slides mixed with n ...
The project MEMORY CONFETTI consists of two parts: through various social network sites we will introduce the project and request the public’s time based participation in sending us images that will be turned into 35 mm slides. These slides mixed with n ...
W4635
25.05.2011
“Handy Space Bags”  - Valeska Peschke
WWW
“Handy Space Bags” Kafka wrote: "Everyone carries a room about him." Everyone carries a room about him through other rooms. I hope to examine and detect ‘traverse rooms’ . In daily life, moving through the city, the utilities needed are enclos ...
“Handy Space Bags” Kafka wrote: "Everyone carries a room about him." Everyone carries a room about him through other rooms. I hope to examine and detect ‘traverse rooms’ . In daily life, moving through the city, the utilities needed are enclos ...
D10827
09.09.2012
Stajuda - Katarzyna Kozyra
DAAD
When my professor from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, who was a very important person for me, was dying in the same hospital where my father died I got the idea to sit naked on a naked dead body and play on a harpsichord. Stajuda, that was his name, ...
When my professor from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, who was a very important person for me, was dying in the same hospital where my father died I got the idea to sit naked on a naked dead body and play on a harpsichord. Stajuda, that was his name, ...
W4446
25.05.2011
Hop(e) - Alexander Callsen
WWW
Hop(e) is the outline of an inflatable bouncing castle in shape of the headquarters of the major bank Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt am Main - Germany. The german word Hoffnung (HOPE) comes from the root hopen/hüpfen which means "to hop, to bounce (i ...
Hop(e) is the outline of an inflatable bouncing castle in shape of the headquarters of the major bank Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt am Main - Germany. The german word Hoffnung (HOPE) comes from the root hopen/hüpfen which means "to hop, to bounce (i ...
W5301
17.10.2012
Spiral Monument - Lux Geier
WWW
Monument: Debussy’s La Mer: SPIRAL MONUMENT – an unrealized project SPIRAL MONUMENT intends to drop visitors into the grooves of a recording of Debussy’s famed orchestral work La Mer. This structure, which replicates the surface of a vinyl recor ...
Monument: Debussy’s La Mer: SPIRAL MONUMENT – an unrealized project SPIRAL MONUMENT intends to drop visitors into the grooves of a recording of Debussy’s famed orchestral work La Mer. This structure, which replicates the surface of a vinyl recor ...
W5156
24.09.2012
Packet Switching - Joelle Dietrick + Owen Mundy
WWW
Packet Switching is an ongoing body of work by Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy that visualizes architecture as fragments affected by economic and communications systems. A series of related prints and animations are available for the exhibition. ...
Packet Switching is an ongoing body of work by Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy that visualizes architecture as fragments affected by economic and communications systems. A series of related prints and animations are available for the exhibition. ...
W4214
24.05.2011
Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine - Atelier Uraiqat
WWW
Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine Atelier Uraiqat Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine is the manifestation of the struggle between the desiring individual and controlling society, where desire acts as the ...
Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine Atelier Uraiqat Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine is the manifestation of the struggle between the desiring individual and controlling society, where desire acts as the ...
W5368
19.10.2012
World Trade Center Memorial Proposal - Stephen Canneto
WWW
The design honors and celebrates the lives of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The figurative road to healing begins with a literal journey, with the soaring zenith of the Memorial Spire catching the eye of newly arriving visitors, ...
The design honors and celebrates the lives of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The figurative road to healing begins with a literal journey, with the soaring zenith of the Memorial Spire catching the eye of newly arriving visitors, ...
W3988
21.05.2011
Decodification of the rituals mapping of hitchhikers to fish auction market, havana - Carolyn Leung
WWW
An architectural provocation of the Socialistic country, Cuba. Research started from hitchhiking in Havana, mapping of the behaviors of individuals. With self-interpretation and experience leads to a speculative design of a Fish Auction Market in Havana. ...
An architectural provocation of the Socialistic country, Cuba. Research started from hitchhiking in Havana, mapping of the behaviors of individuals. With self-interpretation and experience leads to a speculative design of a Fish Auction Market in Havana. ...
W5083
08.09.2012
Safety for 24 hours - tat ort (Alexandra Berlinger, Wolfgang Fiel)
WWW
Commissioned by curator Thomas Kaestle on behalf of the city of Hannover, the project - among others – was expected to invigorate the discourse on public art in general as well as to provide an example for the future development of public art initiative ...
Commissioned by curator Thomas Kaestle on behalf of the city of Hannover, the project - among others – was expected to invigorate the discourse on public art in general as well as to provide an example for the future development of public art initiative ...
W5471
21.10.2012
La Gioconda Project - Gabor Ösz
WWW
Introduction A few years ago, when I first visited the Louvre, I was surprised to see that the signposts giving directions for the painting La Gioconda already started at the gates. As I was to learn later, there exists a form of cultural pilgrimage t ...
Introduction A few years ago, when I first visited the Louvre, I was surprised to see that the signposts giving directions for the painting La Gioconda already started at the gates. As I was to learn later, there exists a form of cultural pilgrimage t ...
U9736
12.03.1997
Battery Park City - Per Kirkeby
Unbuilt Roads
Dear Mr. Kirkeby Today I received the ektachromes for the book on unrealised projects form Michael Werner in New York-many thanks. We would be most thankful if you could fax us some more text related to these projects. With my best regards Hans Ulrich ...
Dear Mr. Kirkeby Today I received the ektachromes for the book on unrealised projects form Michael Werner in New York-many thanks. We would be most thankful if you could fax us some more text related to these projects. With my best regards Hans Ulrich ...
W4738
26.05.2011
Boxing Meese - Nadja Verena Marcin
WWW
Boxing Meese _ Nadja Verena Marcin _ 2006 This poster with the written information, see below, was papered all over the Auguststrasse in Berlin-Mitte in 2006. Du bist angeklagt! Du hast Herrn Blum beleidigt! Herr Blum ist unschuldig!... Gesicht zeige ...
Boxing Meese _ Nadja Verena Marcin _ 2006 This poster with the written information, see below, was papered all over the Auguststrasse in Berlin-Mitte in 2006. Du bist angeklagt! Du hast Herrn Blum beleidigt! Herr Blum ist unschuldig!... Gesicht zeige ...