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.

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

The lmprobable Flow - Larry Bell

PROPOSALl + VOORSTEL - Guillame Bijl

Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

den anonymen Tod ausstellen - Gregor Schneider

Cruzeiro Do Sul, (Southern Cross) (Crucero del Sur) 1969-70* - Cildo Meireles

KEEPING IN TOUCH - Allan Kaprow

Memorial - Ilya Kabakov

Prima del 73 - Fabio Mauri

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5263
13.10.2012
Brick Rushnik - Maria Gonchar
WWW
Rushnik or Rushnyk- Ukrainian embroidered decorative towel. In ancient times, the towel, embroidered with the relevant patterns, symbols, has been an inherent part of many ceremonies. For centuries it has the importance of figurative-symbolic significanc ...
Rushnik or Rushnyk- Ukrainian embroidered decorative towel. In ancient times, the towel, embroidered with the relevant patterns, symbols, has been an inherent part of many ceremonies. For centuries it has the importance of figurative-symbolic significanc ...
W4057
23.05.2011
Escape Vine - Mark Shoffner and Rebecca Herman
WWW
“Escape Vine” was a proposal for an evolving sculptural work of live vines. The vines would grow up ladder-shaped wire trellises on either side of massive, 30-foot-high prison walls. ...
“Escape Vine” was a proposal for an evolving sculptural work of live vines. The vines would grow up ladder-shaped wire trellises on either side of massive, 30-foot-high prison walls. ...
W5396
20.10.2012
Reason - Darío Corbeira
WWW
Representations of space must… have a substantial role and a specific influence in the production of space Henri Lefebvre Reason Reason is a 1994 unrealized project. Try to relate Art, Enlightenment, the development class city, urban geography, cl ...
Representations of space must… have a substantial role and a specific influence in the production of space Henri Lefebvre Reason Reason is a 1994 unrealized project. Try to relate Art, Enlightenment, the development class city, urban geography, cl ...
W10583
18.06.2014
Downriver - Jonathan Parsons
WWW
proposal for the 2010 Spitalfields Sculpture Prize Downriver further develops my established practice of making ‘dissected’ map sculptures. Previously, I have taken actual source maps and cut away everything from them except one particular visual e ...
proposal for the 2010 Spitalfields Sculpture Prize Downriver further develops my established practice of making ‘dissected’ map sculptures. Previously, I have taken actual source maps and cut away everything from them except one particular visual e ...
W4513
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 ...
W3913
20.05.2011
Project Title: 10 Museums of Mental Objects (MoMOs) - Judy Freya Sibayan
WWW
I am proposing a performance to establish 10 Museums of Mental Objects. Founded in 2002 by Judy Freya Sibayan and Matt Price, MoMO is a “performance art museum for life.” At present, Price and Sibayan are the curators of and are the Museum of Mental O ...
I am proposing a performance to establish 10 Museums of Mental Objects. Founded in 2002 by Judy Freya Sibayan and Matt Price, MoMO is a “performance art museum for life.” At present, Price and Sibayan are the curators of and are the Museum of Mental O ...
W3519
11.05.2011
Spartak Dulic
WWW
Cocaine sculpture text- on the back of the card ...
Cocaine sculpture text- on the back of the card ...
W4028
22.05.2011
The width of a grin - Matthew Geller
WWW
Proposal for a temporary public artwork on West San Fernando Street under the Highway 87 overpass and over the Guadalupe River, San Jose, CA It takes about 68 seconds to cross under Highway 87 and over the Guadalupe River while walking on West San Fern ...
Proposal for a temporary public artwork on West San Fernando Street under the Highway 87 overpass and over the Guadalupe River, San Jose, CA It takes about 68 seconds to cross under Highway 87 and over the Guadalupe River while walking on West San Fern ...
W4058
23.05.2011
Karl Jensen
WWW
“Yet as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure: but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; ...
“Yet as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure: but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; ...
W3566
12.05.2011
Lisa Gorton
WWW
Two images taken in a pristine gallery space. Meant to act as a catalyst for an investigation into space, place and the role of the body within this. Tried to do a performance but became much more about being ‘alive’ rather than ‘live’. ...
Two images taken in a pristine gallery space. Meant to act as a catalyst for an investigation into space, place and the role of the body within this. Tried to do a performance but became much more about being ‘alive’ rather than ‘live’. ...
W3864
19.05.2011
Nova Jiang
WWW
A rejected finalist proposal for a public sculpture designed by the public online. Each online participant determines the shape of a sculptural element, which can be assembled by visitors to the park. ...
A rejected finalist proposal for a public sculpture designed by the public online. Each online participant determines the shape of a sculptural element, which can be assembled by visitors to the park. ...
W4018
22.05.2011
Ladder, 1991 - Mimmo Catania
WWW
Ladder, 1991: It was a project to be realized for Documenta IX. At Friediricianum a steel ladder as high as the building might have been installed during the exhibition as a simbol to reach the sky. ...
Ladder, 1991: It was a project to be realized for Documenta IX. At Friediricianum a steel ladder as high as the building might have been installed during the exhibition as a simbol to reach the sky. ...
W4851
08.08.2012
Light Savers - John Ruggieri
WWW
JOHN RUGGIERI PROPOSAL: Light Savers The following was submitted in 2003 in response to an invitation to artists to participate in THE FOUR ELEMENTS by The Forest Hills Educational Trust. This juried outdoor exhibition consists of temporary installa ...
JOHN RUGGIERI PROPOSAL: Light Savers The following was submitted in 2003 in response to an invitation to artists to participate in THE FOUR ELEMENTS by The Forest Hills Educational Trust. This juried outdoor exhibition consists of temporary installa ...
W5427
20.10.2012
POINT 59 - hiramandirina
WWW
POINT 59 In July 1999, Irina Danilova with support of Arts Link CEC Partners went from New York to the only intersection of 59th Longitude and 59th latitude on land, in the Siberian woods of Ural mountains (3 other intersections sunk in the ocean ...
POINT 59 In July 1999, Irina Danilova with support of Arts Link CEC Partners went from New York to the only intersection of 59th Longitude and 59th latitude on land, in the Siberian woods of Ural mountains (3 other intersections sunk in the ocean ...
W3832
19.05.2011
YKB : NYC Yves Klein Blue : A New York City Road. - Jeff Wood
WWW
" felt only night within me and it was then that I conceived the new art. " Kazimir Malevich YKB : NYC is a feature length art-film proposal in which 2 art-handlers driving a truck in New York city experience the city as a grand artwork while the ...
" felt only night within me and it was then that I conceived the new art. " Kazimir Malevich YKB : NYC is a feature length art-film proposal in which 2 art-handlers driving a truck in New York city experience the city as a grand artwork while the ...
W10503
05.05.2014
Brookside Re-seen - Nicky Hamlyn
WWW
The project is a film that would have been made in Brookside Close, Liverpool, the actually existing cul-de-sac of houses in which the long-running TV soap opera 'Brookside' (1982 - 2003) was filmed and set. My plan was to go to Brookside Close and make a ...
The project is a film that would have been made in Brookside Close, Liverpool, the actually existing cul-de-sac of houses in which the long-running TV soap opera 'Brookside' (1982 - 2003) was filmed and set. My plan was to go to Brookside Close and make a ...
W3926
20.05.2011
Denkzeichen Rosa Luxemburg - Oliver Ressler
WWW
My design for the competition “Denkzeichen Rosa Luxemburg” (Memory Marker Rosa Luxemburg; Berlin 2003) drew upon the Revolution Monument by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which was commissioned in 1926 by the German Communist Party as the central memorial ...
My design for the competition “Denkzeichen Rosa Luxemburg” (Memory Marker Rosa Luxemburg; Berlin 2003) drew upon the Revolution Monument by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which was commissioned in 1926 by the German Communist Party as the central memorial ...
W3539
11.05.2011
Grey Blob, 2010 - Alexandra Kennedy
WWW
Unrealised Project No. 2. Grey Blob, 2010. ‘Did you know that our planet is in imminent danger of being devoured by a giant grey blob? ...The world-consuming “grey goo” would actually be an uncontrollable mass of self-replicating, molecular- ...
Unrealised Project No. 2. Grey Blob, 2010. ‘Did you know that our planet is in imminent danger of being devoured by a giant grey blob? ...The world-consuming “grey goo” would actually be an uncontrollable mass of self-replicating, molecular- ...
W5160
24.09.2012
See-Throughs - Anton Savov and Barak Reiser
WWW
SEE-THROUGHS A project proposal by Anton Savov and Barak Reiser Frankfurt, 2011 See-Throughs is a proposal for a pavilion to be situated on a square in a metropolitan location during the winter months - a time when the city’s open-air spaces are ...
SEE-THROUGHS A project proposal by Anton Savov and Barak Reiser Frankfurt, 2011 See-Throughs is a proposal for a pavilion to be situated on a square in a metropolitan location during the winter months - a time when the city’s open-air spaces are ...
U9578
01.01.1997
Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry
Unbuilt Roads
Design Intent: The main purpose of a footbridge across the Thames should be more than to transport people most efficiently from point A to point B. We propose, instead, a bridge where sociality becomes the dominant practical purpose, a structure which ...
Design Intent: The main purpose of a footbridge across the Thames should be more than to transport people most efficiently from point A to point B. We propose, instead, a bridge where sociality becomes the dominant practical purpose, a structure which ...
W4239
24.05.2011
OXYGEN - Peter Boyadjieff
WWW
Today our metropolitan networks require more and more physical space for their residual infrastructure and paradoxically seem to leave less and less legroom for urban appropriation by their occupants. Rather than being subjugated to it, the supremacy of t ...
Today our metropolitan networks require more and more physical space for their residual infrastructure and paradoxically seem to leave less and less legroom for urban appropriation by their occupants. Rather than being subjugated to it, the supremacy of t ...
W5006
30.08.2012
Das soziale NetzKunstwerk - Karen Eliot
WWW
An internet forum/ social network for Open Source Art projects: Artists always have unrealized ideas - things that just slumber in sketchbooks forever. We want to create a website, where users can propose such projects and leave it open for others to adop ...
An internet forum/ social network for Open Source Art projects: Artists always have unrealized ideas - things that just slumber in sketchbooks forever. We want to create a website, where users can propose such projects and leave it open for others to adop ...
W3834
19.05.2011
Maki Na Kamura
WWW
W4350
24.05.2011
Far Along - ap-art-ment
WWW
Far Along Part 1 of Far Along will be a boat expedition/mobile exhibition to the Farallon Islands, officially a part of the City of San Francisco, though located 27 miles offshore. Forty-five participants will sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, and out ...
Far Along Part 1 of Far Along will be a boat expedition/mobile exhibition to the Farallon Islands, officially a part of the City of San Francisco, though located 27 miles offshore. Forty-five participants will sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, and out ...
W5749
22.04.2013
"Blinded Fish" - Jeane Doucas
WWW
a dance-theatre performance, based in Butoh aesthetics. The theme: the schizophrenia and the blindness we live in our day life. These photos were photographed during a rehearsal, in 2011. ...
a dance-theatre performance, based in Butoh aesthetics. The theme: the schizophrenia and the blindness we live in our day life. These photos were photographed during a rehearsal, in 2011. ...
W3547
12.05.2011
Morality - Peter Dickinson
WWW
An interactive painting installation titled Morality The project is outlined at this link and a pdf with instructions on how morality would be managed can also be found on this page. http://www.peter-dickinson.co.uk/Morality.html ...
An interactive painting installation titled Morality The project is outlined at this link and a pdf with instructions on how morality would be managed can also be found on this page. http://www.peter-dickinson.co.uk/Morality.html ...