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.

AUSSICHTSTURM, HOLZHAUS (WOHNHAUS), SCHWIMMBECKEN, FREIE FAHRT - Maria Eichhorn

Engel-Detektor - Jakob Gautel & Jason Karaïndros

The insurer - Fabrice Hybert

A FAIRLY TALL TOWER, 48,000 Miles High -  - Siah Armajani

Battery Park City - Per Kirkeby

Billboard - Jimmie Durham

Passage - Richard Wentworth

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

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

Dog Jaw Monument - A Futurist Tele-introject - Leon Golub

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4305
24.05.2011
BENEATH SAND AND SEA - Holger C. Lönze
WWW
BENEATH SAND AND SEA INTRODUCTION The proposed project is set within the physical and social context of Portobello Beach and intends to bring an aspect of the area’s hidden history back out into the light. It focuses on the historic Portobello Harbo ...
BENEATH SAND AND SEA INTRODUCTION The proposed project is set within the physical and social context of Portobello Beach and intends to bring an aspect of the area’s hidden history back out into the light. It focuses on the historic Portobello Harbo ...
W4688
26.05.2011
Kim Cook
WWW
Inspired by the sinking Carteret Islands, the Island Flotation Device responds to the changing environment by raising islands with the sea level. The IFD places inhabitants in control of the water level. A simple design allows them to control the amount o ...
Inspired by the sinking Carteret Islands, the Island Flotation Device responds to the changing environment by raising islands with the sea level. The IFD places inhabitants in control of the water level. A simple design allows them to control the amount o ...
W4700
26.05.2011
Counting Time - Catherine Cullen
WWW
Counting Time is a proposal for seven precious and semi-precious stones in colors that range from red to yellow, to be rough hewn into lumpy orbs. Counting stones hover in the mist of the pre-verbal yet bear an acute understanding of the imprecision inevi ...
Counting Time is a proposal for seven precious and semi-precious stones in colors that range from red to yellow, to be rough hewn into lumpy orbs. Counting stones hover in the mist of the pre-verbal yet bear an acute understanding of the imprecision inevi ...
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’. ...
W3581
13.05.2011
Nihal Yesil
WWW
Passage, 2008 Model for a architectural installation Construction: Simple reductive construction Walls: Black heavy rubber sheets suspended from simple linked frames Dimensions: Circa 280cm height x 450cm wide x 800cm + length variable depending on ...
Passage, 2008 Model for a architectural installation Construction: Simple reductive construction Walls: Black heavy rubber sheets suspended from simple linked frames Dimensions: Circa 280cm height x 450cm wide x 800cm + length variable depending on ...
W4549
25.05.2011
Auto da fe.  - Paul Murnaghan
WWW
Auto da fe. Shortly before the demolition of Sean Tracey House AKA Pallas Heights, the keys to the gallery and studios will be handed over to Paul Murnaghan. Murnaghan has agreed with Pallas Heights’ curators, Mark Cullen and Brian Duggan, that he wil ...
Auto da fe. Shortly before the demolition of Sean Tracey House AKA Pallas Heights, the keys to the gallery and studios will be handed over to Paul Murnaghan. Murnaghan has agreed with Pallas Heights’ curators, Mark Cullen and Brian Duggan, that he wil ...
W3496
11.05.2011
Greenwich South - DeWitt Godfrey
WWW
Greenwich South commissioned by The Alliance for Downtown New York to participate in a visioning study that presents ways to transform the 23 blocks south of the World Trade Center—known as Greenwich South. The study was led by Architecture Research ...
Greenwich South commissioned by The Alliance for Downtown New York to participate in a visioning study that presents ways to transform the 23 blocks south of the World Trade Center—known as Greenwich South. The study was led by Architecture Research ...
W4295
24.05.2011
Tides, Wind and Sails - Holger C. Lönze
WWW
Tides, Wind and Sails Context The island of Rathlin and its mainland port of Ballycastle on the north-eastern coast of Co. Antrim are linked by one of the most challenging tidal waters of Northern Europe: the Street of Moyle. These difficult sea con ...
Tides, Wind and Sails Context The island of Rathlin and its mainland port of Ballycastle on the north-eastern coast of Co. Antrim are linked by one of the most challenging tidal waters of Northern Europe: the Street of Moyle. These difficult sea con ...
W4632
25.05.2011
Hat  - maschen
WWW
“Here the city unfolds, grows word by word, dynamic voices, that blur and focus.” excerpt by Poós Zoltán - Budapest Hat hat [turkish] line [english] a project by Anna Haber, Korinna Lindinger and Julia Rosenberger the line A line i ...
“Here the city unfolds, grows word by word, dynamic voices, that blur and focus.” excerpt by Poós Zoltán - Budapest Hat hat [turkish] line [english] a project by Anna Haber, Korinna Lindinger and Julia Rosenberger the line A line i ...
W4573
25.05.2011
Emily Puthoff
WWW
W4243
24.05.2011
Acts of appearance – ‘side cabinets at Holden Gallery’ - Ana Luisa Cruz
WWW
Acts of appearance – ‘side cabinets at Holden Gallery’ http://sidecabinetsatholdengallery.blogspot.com/ I have ‘virtually’ placed myself in an existing gallery for a couple of weeks, The Holden Gallery, Manchester, using a virtual positioni ...
Acts of appearance – ‘side cabinets at Holden Gallery’ http://sidecabinetsatholdengallery.blogspot.com/ I have ‘virtually’ placed myself in an existing gallery for a couple of weeks, The Holden Gallery, Manchester, using a virtual positioni ...
W4313
24.05.2011
Unreal cities  - Emilio Said (Mexico City)
WWW
Emilio Said Unreal cities Informal architecture zone The diverse social dynamics that gather in the public field generate mechanic interactions to shape bonds between the city and who transit in it. By this way, Said´s work is integrated in ...
Emilio Said Unreal cities Informal architecture zone The diverse social dynamics that gather in the public field generate mechanic interactions to shape bonds between the city and who transit in it. By this way, Said´s work is integrated in ...
W4514
25.05.2011
Margarethe Müller
WWW
This is a project for a school. The idea was to give a small village on their own to the students, situated beside the small village named Charmey in the mountains of french Switzerland. The elementary students have their classrooms inside the plateau, th ...
This is a project for a school. The idea was to give a small village on their own to the students, situated beside the small village named Charmey in the mountains of french Switzerland. The elementary students have their classrooms inside the plateau, th ...
W10362
18.04.2014
Building Of a Heterogeneous Space of the Disappearance - Daniel Castellanos Reyes
WWW
Building Of An Heterogeneous Space Of The Disappearance will be an ephemeral construction shaped as one of the present balconies in what it used to be the Gebäude Des Reichsstatthalters Und Der Gauleitung. This proposal pretends to make an historical ...
Building Of An Heterogeneous Space Of The Disappearance will be an ephemeral construction shaped as one of the present balconies in what it used to be the Gebäude Des Reichsstatthalters Und Der Gauleitung. This proposal pretends to make an historical ...
W4840
08.08.2012
Tableau Vivant and the subversive Feminine - andreas guibert
WWW
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna PhD in Practice (Doctor of Philosophy in Practice) Personal number: 0003 Andres Guibert Abstract The proposed project analyses how individual gay identities contest cultural policies in repressive regimes reformulating ...
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna PhD in Practice (Doctor of Philosophy in Practice) Personal number: 0003 Andres Guibert Abstract The proposed project analyses how individual gay identities contest cultural policies in repressive regimes reformulating ...
W5093
11.09.2012
H.U.R.I.M.P.R - Alina Tudor and Razvan Neagoe
WWW
H.U.R.I.M.P.R (part of MOnuMENTS project) MOnuMENTS project starts from the necessity of a reflexion on the deficitary relationship we have with history and recent memory, following a representative piece for the relationship between the political disc ...
H.U.R.I.M.P.R (part of MOnuMENTS project) MOnuMENTS project starts from the necessity of a reflexion on the deficitary relationship we have with history and recent memory, following a representative piece for the relationship between the political disc ...
W3489
11.05.2011
The Project for Collective Becoming: Philosophy of Platform - Marc Lafia
WWW
The Project for Collective Becoming Philosophy of Platform Marc Lafia What it is? We are creating a series of global gatherings to introduce and connect people through sociability, philosophic revelry, enjoyment, reflection and action. It involves b ...
The Project for Collective Becoming Philosophy of Platform Marc Lafia What it is? We are creating a series of global gatherings to introduce and connect people through sociability, philosophic revelry, enjoyment, reflection and action. It involves b ...
W5258
12.10.2012
Collective biographies - Haim Ben Shitrit
WWW
Collective biographies Chapter 1 Bernd Sering Bernd is my friend and colleague for more than 20 years. He came to Israel from Bavaria in the beginning of the eighties, finished an MA In physics, got married to Dafna and they had 2 boys. The fact tha ...
Collective biographies Chapter 1 Bernd Sering Bernd is my friend and colleague for more than 20 years. He came to Israel from Bavaria in the beginning of the eighties, finished an MA In physics, got married to Dafna and they had 2 boys. The fact tha ...
W5217
06.10.2012
Virtual Papyrus - Anna Maria Bonanese
WWW
Virtual Papyrus is an interactive website which allows users to create a message or drawing in response to one of four topics: Utopia, The Environment, Addictions, and Work. These categories were chosen for their relation to the broader theme of "collecti ...
Virtual Papyrus is an interactive website which allows users to create a message or drawing in response to one of four topics: Utopia, The Environment, Addictions, and Work. These categories were chosen for their relation to the broader theme of "collecti ...
W3682
16.05.2011
Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
WWW
Two Barges is a proposal for a pair of illuminated signs to be ferried around the island of Manhattan using the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers.   The signs will be made from panels of tungsten lightbulbs fixed to a supporting metal rig.   The letters wi ...
Two Barges is a proposal for a pair of illuminated signs to be ferried around the island of Manhattan using the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers.   The signs will be made from panels of tungsten lightbulbs fixed to a supporting metal rig.   The letters wi ...
W4666
25.05.2011
Carlos Lérias
WWW
The fragments presented here by the Migratory Museum, are the parts of a live cast mask of my face. Moved on in one hand by the incessant obsession with disappearance, invisibility, forgetfulness and nomadism, and on the other hand by the museum’s troub ...
The fragments presented here by the Migratory Museum, are the parts of a live cast mask of my face. Moved on in one hand by the incessant obsession with disappearance, invisibility, forgetfulness and nomadism, and on the other hand by the museum’s troub ...
W4640
25.05.2011
“Hey, wave!” - Maria Dundakova
WWW
Project “Hey, wave!” Video movie script © MARIA DUNDAKOVA a Man and a Wave The Wave – your pulse comes from the heart of the earth your dance is as light as the clouds and as heavy as an unborn child in the belly of his mother wave – you come to ...
Project “Hey, wave!” Video movie script © MARIA DUNDAKOVA a Man and a Wave The Wave – your pulse comes from the heart of the earth your dance is as light as the clouds and as heavy as an unborn child in the belly of his mother wave – you come to ...
W4149
23.05.2011
Coming up for Air 2001  - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Coming up for Air 2001 Coming up for Air was a proposal for a temporary public art project based on the production of an imposing landmark in the reservoir of Chasewater Country Park, Staffordshire. The project aimed to promote debate on the relations ...
Coming up for Air 2001 Coming up for Air was a proposal for a temporary public art project based on the production of an imposing landmark in the reservoir of Chasewater Country Park, Staffordshire. The project aimed to promote debate on the relations ...
W3677
15.05.2011
Broken Monumen - ESTHER ACHAERANDIO
WWW
Broken Monument Mixed Media. 8x8x18cm. 2011. Broken Monument takes part of a projects that I was working on for pleasure since 2001. While this works is comprised of a diferent of mediums, they do not aim to ladder up to a singular thesis. That sai ...
Broken Monument Mixed Media. 8x8x18cm. 2011. Broken Monument takes part of a projects that I was working on for pleasure since 2001. While this works is comprised of a diferent of mediums, they do not aim to ladder up to a singular thesis. That sai ...
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 ...
W3756
18.05.2011
Mevagissey Old Fishermen - Venessa Lagrand
WWW
Mevagissey Old Fishermen is a panel of 40 hand painted ceramic tiles (each tile 15 x 15 cm) reproduction of an old photograph - with artistic licence - of a scene of a small harbour in Cornwall GB around 1900 - see image attached and on www.artmajeur.com/ ...
Mevagissey Old Fishermen is a panel of 40 hand painted ceramic tiles (each tile 15 x 15 cm) reproduction of an old photograph - with artistic licence - of a scene of a small harbour in Cornwall GB around 1900 - see image attached and on www.artmajeur.com/ ...