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.

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

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

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

Douglas Gordon - 5 year drive-by; proposal for a public artwork.

The pyramids...to be seen to be believed - Jonathan Monk

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman

Project for the Initiative Mahnmal Homosexuellenverfolgung, Frankfurt  - Jeff Wall

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

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5266
13.10.2012
Vineeragina
WWW
How To Choose The Best patient that number professionals statements important affect your mental health? One of the most reliable places where you can acquire and marijuana only and a limited amount to any patient at any given time. <a href=http://www.vap ...
How To Choose The Best patient that number professionals statements important affect your mental health? One of the most reliable places where you can acquire and marijuana only and a limited amount to any patient at any given time. <a href=http://www.vap ...
W4705
26.05.2011
CORONA (Socket Set) - Lisa Hein
WWW
CORONA (Socket Set) is a temporary installation for an existing pair of lanterns. The first lantern functions normally, but has a swarm of empty light sockets covering its glass. The second lantern looks burnt out because the inside of its glass panels ...
CORONA (Socket Set) is a temporary installation for an existing pair of lanterns. The first lantern functions normally, but has a swarm of empty light sockets covering its glass. The second lantern looks burnt out because the inside of its glass panels ...
W4318
24.05.2011
Taking the Call Center - Yumi Janairo Roth and Nadine Wasserman
WWW
Outsourcing is common in a global economy. It is often maligned for taking jobs away from American workers and is also a source of pop culture humor. For the people working in these jobs, however, it can mean the difference between staying home or leavin ...
Outsourcing is common in a global economy. It is often maligned for taking jobs away from American workers and is also a source of pop culture humor. For the people working in these jobs, however, it can mean the difference between staying home or leavin ...
W4184
24.05.2011
A POCKET FULL OF EMPTY - amalia caputo
WWW
PROJECT FOR EXHIBITION “A POCKET FULL OF EMPTY” By Amalia Caputo BRIEF DESCRIPTION This exhibition is a solo show, conceived as an interactive installation of variable dimensions that will take over the main area of an exhibition space. It is ...
PROJECT FOR EXHIBITION “A POCKET FULL OF EMPTY” By Amalia Caputo BRIEF DESCRIPTION This exhibition is a solo show, conceived as an interactive installation of variable dimensions that will take over the main area of an exhibition space. It is ...
W3580
13.05.2011
Diary - Brocken Column, 1989 - Dan Mihaltianu
WWW
Brocken Column belongs to a series of works produced in the late 80s with the generic title "Diary", drawings, lithographs, artist books and installations, using as symbols the initials of the week days ...
Brocken Column belongs to a series of works produced in the late 80s with the generic title "Diary", drawings, lithographs, artist books and installations, using as symbols the initials of the week days ...
W4541
25.05.2011
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME”  - Maria Dundakova
WWW
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME” The central theme of the Biennale Sao Paulo was “The Holistic Global Tendencies of Humankind at the End of the 20th Century”. Based on the personal invitation of the jury of the Biennale, I further developed the pro ...
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME” The central theme of the Biennale Sao Paulo was “The Holistic Global Tendencies of Humankind at the End of the 20th Century”. Based on the personal invitation of the jury of the Biennale, I further developed the pro ...
W4202
24.05.2011
The Eisenstein Project - janet hodgson
WWW
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
W4910
14.08.2012
General Valeriano Weyler - Daniela Ortiz in collaboration with Xose Quiroga
WWW
GENERAL VALERIANO WEYLER by Daniela Ortiz & Xose Quiroga The Spanish nation constantly recognises as national pride personalities as Christopher Columbus, Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro or Hernan Cortés; diverse streets, plazas and monuments re ...
GENERAL VALERIANO WEYLER by Daniela Ortiz & Xose Quiroga The Spanish nation constantly recognises as national pride personalities as Christopher Columbus, Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro or Hernan Cortés; diverse streets, plazas and monuments re ...
W3635
14.05.2011
Hay, Text - Jomar Statkun
WWW
“With plastic covered hay bales”, the hay bales have text silk screened on them. There would be many bales - with various texts printed on them. In the past, some texts have touched on ideas of defection and the workings of “offices”, as well a ...
“With plastic covered hay bales”, the hay bales have text silk screened on them. There would be many bales - with various texts printed on them. In the past, some texts have touched on ideas of defection and the workings of “offices”, as well a ...
W10596
18.10.2012
La clinique - Serge
WWW
contemporary visual art productions do create a fusion & annihilation of passions? After several filmed phone calls to selected random people, the main idea here was to build an anti-dialectical frame, so as to separate a speech of an image that are re ...
contemporary visual art productions do create a fusion & annihilation of passions? After several filmed phone calls to selected random people, the main idea here was to build an anti-dialectical frame, so as to separate a speech of an image that are re ...
W5215
06.10.2012
The Modern Book of Cynics - Luc Messinezis
WWW
I read and at the same time I hear a voice in my head; words about humanity's achievements, of human rights and our unsheathing from the beast. But the voice in my head narrates something different making it impossible to comprehend the exact meaning of t ...
I read and at the same time I hear a voice in my head; words about humanity's achievements, of human rights and our unsheathing from the beast. But the voice in my head narrates something different making it impossible to comprehend the exact meaning of t ...
W10982
24.12.2015
Notes Toward a Temple - The Legacy
WWW
This proposal seeks to confront problems in the disciplines of art and architecture in an ecological age. (1) Our infrastructure and aesthetic culture does not attune itself to the ever present crisis of nuclear waste, the bi-product of nuclear energy, wh ...
This proposal seeks to confront problems in the disciplines of art and architecture in an ecological age. (1) Our infrastructure and aesthetic culture does not attune itself to the ever present crisis of nuclear waste, the bi-product of nuclear energy, wh ...
W5337
18.10.2012
how to recall what never happened
WWW
The idea stem from Lis’81 – The International Drawing Biennale of Lisbon, which was expected to take place at the National Gallery of Modern Art of Belém, but ended up consumed in a fire, during its installation, the only thing left is the catalogue. ...
The idea stem from Lis’81 – The International Drawing Biennale of Lisbon, which was expected to take place at the National Gallery of Modern Art of Belém, but ended up consumed in a fire, during its installation, the only thing left is the catalogue. ...
W4809
07.08.2012
Transitional Monument - David Mabb
WWW
Transitional Monument (2004). Digital montage. Dimensions variable. Transitional Monument was made as a proposal for a public artwork. The two images show photos of a now demolished sixties tower block, Linosa Close, Liverpool, with William Morris d ...
Transitional Monument (2004). Digital montage. Dimensions variable. Transitional Monument was made as a proposal for a public artwork. The two images show photos of a now demolished sixties tower block, Linosa Close, Liverpool, with William Morris d ...
W3587
13.05.2011
Christopher Otto
WWW
In 2001, when I was 23, I attempted to make a computer art program which would dial each entry in Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus as a phone number and speak the line to whomever picked up. I was accepted to present it at a few events, but w ...
In 2001, when I was 23, I attempted to make a computer art program which would dial each entry in Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus as a phone number and speak the line to whomever picked up. I was accepted to present it at a few events, but w ...
W4074
23.05.2011
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) - Maarten van der Heijden (@Maarten141BOXES)
WWW
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) Introduction @Maarten141BOXES is a Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress. It is an egodocument: an autobiographi ...
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) Introduction @Maarten141BOXES is a Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress. It is an egodocument: an autobiographi ...
W5007
30.08.2012
Berlin Childhood - Julia Brodauf
WWW
The project "Berlin Childhood" was proposed as an exhibition idea to Vattenfall for the Turbinenhalle at the Heizkraftwerk Moabit in combination with an edition. The edition will be realised, the exhibition project not... Und die Mädels mit ihren Rol ...
The project "Berlin Childhood" was proposed as an exhibition idea to Vattenfall for the Turbinenhalle at the Heizkraftwerk Moabit in combination with an edition. The edition will be realised, the exhibition project not... Und die Mädels mit ihren Rol ...
W3891
20.05.2011
The Library of Audio Visual and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation (LAVTSIM) - Corey Escoto
WWW
The Library of Audio Visual and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation (LAVTSIM) is an unrealized organization dedicated to the collecting and display of information of motivational (fear based) and inspirational (coming from some unconscious creat ...
The Library of Audio Visual and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation (LAVTSIM) is an unrealized organization dedicated to the collecting and display of information of motivational (fear based) and inspirational (coming from some unconscious creat ...
W4227
24.05.2011
"5.9-by-8.5-inch Exhibition" - Toru Hayashi
WWW
"5.9-by-8.5-inch Exhibition" Selecting one of sketchbooks from my drawing project Equivocal Landscape* Publishing the same format (5.9 x 8.5 in. and 72 images of 144 pages) book as the sketchbook of Equivocal Landscape (at least 72 copies) ...
"5.9-by-8.5-inch Exhibition" Selecting one of sketchbooks from my drawing project Equivocal Landscape* Publishing the same format (5.9 x 8.5 in. and 72 images of 144 pages) book as the sketchbook of Equivocal Landscape (at least 72 copies) ...
W3574
12.05.2011
Intravenous Robot Painting Arm Extension Version #1 - Peter T. Christenson
WWW
The proposed unrealized project tentatively titled Intravenous Robot Painting Arm Extension Version #1 would be comprised of IV tubing and a variation of my microbot—an amoeba of a robot built with a paintbrush, a 3VDC Micro Vibration Motor, and a 3V l ...
The proposed unrealized project tentatively titled Intravenous Robot Painting Arm Extension Version #1 would be comprised of IV tubing and a variation of my microbot—an amoeba of a robot built with a paintbrush, a 3VDC Micro Vibration Motor, and a 3V l ...
W4110
23.05.2011
The Circumference is Everywhere - Daniel R Small
WWW
The Circumference is Everywhere, 2011 100 miles Northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert lies a city abandoned in advance of itself, a ruin that is an aerial monument to misguided optimism that was conceived of by Nat Mendelsohn and intended to r ...
The Circumference is Everywhere, 2011 100 miles Northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert lies a city abandoned in advance of itself, a ruin that is an aerial monument to misguided optimism that was conceived of by Nat Mendelsohn and intended to r ...
W4329
24.05.2011
Nicolau Tudela
WWW
This unfinished work was an installation based on the deficiency of the author. The base of the conception was in fact his right arm and it would reflect the, some what, painful and discomfort feelings that the author felt and feels about and with it. The ...
This unfinished work was an installation based on the deficiency of the author. The base of the conception was in fact his right arm and it would reflect the, some what, painful and discomfort feelings that the author felt and feels about and with it. The ...
U9268
24.02.1997
The lmprobable Flow - Larry Bell
Unbuilt Roads
Dear Hans: The most passionate times in the studio is the birth of a new idea. It gets all the juices that make being an artist flow. Sadly many wonderful ideas are not realized because one is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I chose to live a ...
Dear Hans: The most passionate times in the studio is the birth of a new idea. It gets all the juices that make being an artist flow. Sadly many wonderful ideas are not realized because one is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I chose to live a ...
W3603
13.05.2011
francine LeClercq
WWW
in memoriam of a work not yet done ...
in memoriam of a work not yet done ...
W4712
26.05.2011
LISTE ROUGE [MEMORIAL FOR THE DISAPPEARED]  - spmb [Eduardo Aquino & Karen Shanski]
WWW
LISTE ROUGE [MEMORIAL FOR THE DISAPPEARED] is a proposal by spmb for the City of Geneva’s 2011 Neons Competition. Starting from the observation that the Geneva Ecological Region has lost seven flower species to urban development in the past decades, we ...
LISTE ROUGE [MEMORIAL FOR THE DISAPPEARED] is a proposal by spmb for the City of Geneva’s 2011 Neons Competition. Starting from the observation that the Geneva Ecological Region has lost seven flower species to urban development in the past decades, we ...
W4868
09.08.2012
Jacqueline Van der Venne
WWW
Jacqueline van der Venne has studied both graphic and advertising design, illustrative arts, and photography. In 1987, she graduated from the Art Academy in Maastricht, and has since seen several years of steady employment in the field of graphic arts and ...
Jacqueline van der Venne has studied both graphic and advertising design, illustrative arts, and photography. In 1987, she graduated from the Art Academy in Maastricht, and has since seen several years of steady employment in the field of graphic arts and ...