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.

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

Aus: Katalog 'Kunst bleibt Kunst' - Hans Peter Feldman

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

Placid Earth: A Project for the Meeting of Millennia - Cai Guo Quiang

Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry

Tulips for Amsterdam - Isa Genzken

Monument to Democracy - Kounellis

City Hall Tower Night Ilumination - Krysztof Wodiczko

Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5310
17.10.2012
NaoKo TakaHashi
WWW
This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hypnotised to experience a false memory. ...
This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hypnotised to experience a false memory. ...
W10455
24.04.2014
Three Little Words - Allison Malinsky
WWW
Three Little Words started my work with visual language. This series contains my colorful gouache drawings of engagement diamonds accompanied by three words in black cursive text. I painted the most symbolic engagement diamonds from Tiffany's and Cartie ...
Three Little Words started my work with visual language. This series contains my colorful gouache drawings of engagement diamonds accompanied by three words in black cursive text. I painted the most symbolic engagement diamonds from Tiffany's and Cartie ...
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 ...
W4802
07.08.2012
Talking in Strings - chiara passa
WWW
My CV: http://www.chiarapassa.it/Artisticprofile.html 2011 "Talking in string", generative video installation. Time variable. "Talking in string" is a generative video installation inspired by the 'Rotor', famous Luna Park rotating carousel. "Talking in ...
My CV: http://www.chiarapassa.it/Artisticprofile.html 2011 "Talking in string", generative video installation. Time variable. "Talking in string" is a generative video installation inspired by the 'Rotor', famous Luna Park rotating carousel. "Talking in ...
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 ...
W5386
20.10.2012
Vickie Jo Franks
WWW
My plan was to make the front yard a moss garden beneath large oak trees here and create moss sculptures including a nativity scene with little moss trees and small animals.I used recycable materials as the armatures.... ...
My plan was to make the front yard a moss garden beneath large oak trees here and create moss sculptures including a nativity scene with little moss trees and small animals.I used recycable materials as the armatures.... ...
W5903
18.10.2013
Scouts - Matthijs Muller
WWW
Instead of nature represented by some poor trees put in a "pot" between towering office-buildings these trees (in concrete "pots", with dustbins but without benches) scout new territory for future city expansion, just outside but still within sight of the ...
Instead of nature represented by some poor trees put in a "pot" between towering office-buildings these trees (in concrete "pots", with dustbins but without benches) scout new territory for future city expansion, just outside but still within sight of the ...
W5172
26.09.2012
Anca Benera + Arnold Estefan
WWW
We wanted to cut 0,892 cm² of soil from the Serpent Island - former Romanian territory, occupied by USSR in 1948 - a minuscule territory located in the northwestern Black Sea, which belongs now to Ukraine. ...
We wanted to cut 0,892 cm² of soil from the Serpent Island - former Romanian territory, occupied by USSR in 1948 - a minuscule territory located in the northwestern Black Sea, which belongs now to Ukraine. ...
W4788
09.06.2011
Summer Resort - Andrea Kalinova
WWW
summer resort 2009 Video 5´7´´/ photos 10x15 cm, documents Greek island of Lesbos belongs among the major input “gates” for refugees from Asia to Western Europe. Distance between Turkey and Greece is here just 10 nautical miles. During my stay ...
summer resort 2009 Video 5´7´´/ photos 10x15 cm, documents Greek island of Lesbos belongs among the major input “gates” for refugees from Asia to Western Europe. Distance between Turkey and Greece is here just 10 nautical miles. During my stay ...
W5161
24.09.2012
BIO for Viscera Film Festival - Jasmine Hirst
WWW
Jasmine Hirst: BIO for Viscera Film Festival New York underground artist Jasmine Hirst's ten-year correspondence with serial killer Aileen Wuornos leads to an intimate and mesmerizing interview on Florida's death row. In 1993 I saw Aileen’s photogr ...
Jasmine Hirst: BIO for Viscera Film Festival New York underground artist Jasmine Hirst's ten-year correspondence with serial killer Aileen Wuornos leads to an intimate and mesmerizing interview on Florida's death row. In 1993 I saw Aileen’s photogr ...
W5234
09.10.2012
Chocolate Video - Erika Norris
WWW
PROJECT: CHOCOLATE VIDEO – September 2012 The idea is to create a video where I use the images of someone (myself) eating large quantities of chocolate. I then want to include images of my body interacting with chocolate. I am thinking of pouring cho ...
PROJECT: CHOCOLATE VIDEO – September 2012 The idea is to create a video where I use the images of someone (myself) eating large quantities of chocolate. I then want to include images of my body interacting with chocolate. I am thinking of pouring cho ...
W3549
12.05.2011
Portrait of a village in contemporary art - Eugen Alupopanu
WWW
My project proposal was "Portrait of a village in contemporary art" in which I wanted to use typical means of photography as document and translate them into visual art language, namely painting. In short, I wanted to photograph all the people in the vill ...
My project proposal was "Portrait of a village in contemporary art" in which I wanted to use typical means of photography as document and translate them into visual art language, namely painting. In short, I wanted to photograph all the people in the vill ...
W3863
19.05.2011
RE:BORN - Chris Twomey
WWW
“RE:BORN” is a futuristic art installation challenging our direction as a species, our choices in our lives, and our genetic choices for a future life and its ramifications. It is an opportunity to participate in a sci-fi art fantasy, perhaps soon to ...
“RE:BORN” is a futuristic art installation challenging our direction as a species, our choices in our lives, and our genetic choices for a future life and its ramifications. It is an opportunity to participate in a sci-fi art fantasy, perhaps soon to ...
U9833
01.01.1977
Square Depression - Bruce Nauman
Unbuilt Roads
Geplanter Standort: Naturwissenschaftliches Zentrum der Westfälischen Wilhelmsuniversität, Münster Material: Betonguß Maße: Tiefe 2,30 m, Breite 25,0 m, Länge 25,0 m Note The piece is a rhomboid square depres­sion with the p ...
Geplanter Standort: Naturwissenschaftliches Zentrum der Westfälischen Wilhelmsuniversität, Münster Material: Betonguß Maße: Tiefe 2,30 m, Breite 25,0 m, Länge 25,0 m Note The piece is a rhomboid square depres­sion with the p ...
W3910
20.05.2011
Dutton and Swindells
WWW
A list of all the possible endings of everything that could ever end. Impossible to complete of course, in the positivity of its construction it undoes its negation and is always becoming something new. ...
A list of all the possible endings of everything that could ever end. Impossible to complete of course, in the positivity of its construction it undoes its negation and is always becoming something new. ...
W4169
24.05.2011
Apocalypse Wave  - Mitya Nesterov & Lera Nibiru
WWW
Apocalypse Wave On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, Haiti and its capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation was horrible, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated ...
Apocalypse Wave On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, Haiti and its capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation was horrible, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated ...
W5491
26.10.2012
AUDIOLABIA - Karen Hibbard
WWW
Arist Book Proposal by Karen Hibbard, Women’s Studio Workshop, 2011. The title merges the words ‘audio’ and ‘labia’. Audio is any refers to any representation of sound. Labium (plural labia) is a Latin‐derived term meaning "Lip".The labia are ...
Arist Book Proposal by Karen Hibbard, Women’s Studio Workshop, 2011. The title merges the words ‘audio’ and ‘labia’. Audio is any refers to any representation of sound. Labium (plural labia) is a Latin‐derived term meaning "Lip".The labia are ...
W4353
25.05.2011
Circular escalator - Ricardo Gomes
WWW
Circular escalator Through our research of the City of Perth’s master plan, the public success of the revitalization of Forrest Place not only depends upon the current restructuring already under way in the vicinity, but also upon the creation of a n ...
Circular escalator Through our research of the City of Perth’s master plan, the public success of the revitalization of Forrest Place not only depends upon the current restructuring already under way in the vicinity, but also upon the creation of a n ...
W4277
24.05.2011
sarah brothers
WWW
This is a painting I started about a year and a half ago, and never finished - on purpose.I decided I liked the un-finished look for this piece. I had initially done the skull to represent the 'death of spirit' feeling I had due to picking up smoking agai ...
This is a painting I started about a year and a half ago, and never finished - on purpose.I decided I liked the un-finished look for this piece. I had initially done the skull to represent the 'death of spirit' feeling I had due to picking up smoking agai ...
W4469
25.05.2011
Straight-Line Residency Project (SLRP):  - Margaret Roberts
WWW
Straight-Line Residency Project (SLRP): Executive summary A. The SLRP aims to • support interdimensional travel from virtual to physical space, • encourage the re-valuation of physical space by showing it as a desirable destination for interdimens ...
Straight-Line Residency Project (SLRP): Executive summary A. The SLRP aims to • support interdimensional travel from virtual to physical space, • encourage the re-valuation of physical space by showing it as a desirable destination for interdimens ...
W5355
19.10.2012
Lara Ogel
WWW
A book of mistranslations and poetry. Constructed, organized, cut and glued, fixated with images, texts and words. From English to Turkish to Turkish to English to Turkish once more. Arranged newspaper clippings to produce a new sound. Growing up bili ...
A book of mistranslations and poetry. Constructed, organized, cut and glued, fixated with images, texts and words. From English to Turkish to Turkish to English to Turkish once more. Arranged newspaper clippings to produce a new sound. Growing up bili ...
D10802
01.01.1995
The museum as sleeping quarters for a man of the street - Danilo Duenas
DAAD
Adorned* with 5 very tall constructive paintings made of “formaletas”* and tape and 11 smaller paintings on canvas with two colors installed in the exhibition hall of the “Museo Nacional” in Bogotá (a former 19th century panopticon), I had imagin ...
Adorned* with 5 very tall constructive paintings made of “formaletas”* and tape and 11 smaller paintings on canvas with two colors installed in the exhibition hall of the “Museo Nacional” in Bogotá (a former 19th century panopticon), I had imagin ...
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 ...
W4334
24.05.2011
METEORITE AL CONTRARIO (INVERTED METEORITE)  - Davide Bertocchi
WWW
METEORITE AL CONTRARIO (INVERTED METEORITE) - 2011 PROJECT. STONE, SPACE MISSION Courtesy the artist A medium size stone (more or less 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm) is sent into space. Like a meteorite but following an opposite trajectory, that is, inste ...
METEORITE AL CONTRARIO (INVERTED METEORITE) - 2011 PROJECT. STONE, SPACE MISSION Courtesy the artist A medium size stone (more or less 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm) is sent into space. Like a meteorite but following an opposite trajectory, that is, inste ...
W4222
24.05.2011
C’era una volta il West (Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod) - Costa Vece
WWW
C’era una volta il West (Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod) Projekt von Costa Vece, 2005 Künstlerischer Wettbewerb für den Speichervorplatz in Bremen-Vegesack "Man hängt immer zwischen Himmel und Erde und gehört weder hier noch dort hin." E ...
C’era una volta il West (Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod) Projekt von Costa Vece, 2005 Künstlerischer Wettbewerb für den Speichervorplatz in Bremen-Vegesack "Man hängt immer zwischen Himmel und Erde und gehört weder hier noch dort hin." E ...
W5052
03.09.2012
Hall of Residence for the UPV - Taller Basico de Arquitectura [TBA]
WWW
Hall of Residence for the UPV (2011) AIR STRATA This metal cloud made from three air strata rises on its own footprint. The interior is opened into two equal halves, generating a large interior street opened to the sky and to the ground plane, which ...
Hall of Residence for the UPV (2011) AIR STRATA This metal cloud made from three air strata rises on its own footprint. The interior is opened into two equal halves, generating a large interior street opened to the sky and to the ground plane, which ...