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.

Passage - Richard Wentworth

Project for the Initiative Mahnmal Homosexuellenverfolgung, Frankfurt  - Jeff Wall

Catwalk - Sylive Fleury

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

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

Double Exposure 1995-6  - Dan Graham

MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

Eight Days a Week - Joe Scanlan

To Two Too; Hypothetical Monument for a Natural Disaster - Jeffrey Wisniewski

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5473
21.10.2012
On Recalling - Rodrigo Hgz
WWW
In this initiative, I sought companies (corporations) and organizations that held in their name a twisted pride on our colonial past in Canada. The companies closed down long ago, but the pride in their names expressed a perspective that has been collecti ...
In this initiative, I sought companies (corporations) and organizations that held in their name a twisted pride on our colonial past in Canada. The companies closed down long ago, but the pride in their names expressed a perspective that has been collecti ...
W3695
16.05.2011
Vladimar and Rosa (2011) - Anne Colvin
WWW
Vladimar and Rosa (2011) is a fictional dance company created and produced by artist Anne Colvin. Their first production "The Kids Play Russian" will never be realized. A hybrid dance installation influenced by experimental film strategies plays out as f ...
Vladimar and Rosa (2011) is a fictional dance company created and produced by artist Anne Colvin. Their first production "The Kids Play Russian" will never be realized. A hybrid dance installation influenced by experimental film strategies plays out as f ...
W4480
25.05.2011
Laura Stein
WWW
I was working with a pyrotechnics specialist to develop shaped fire sculptures. We were working on building gas flame fueled armatures to define the form. AS the costs grew the project was put on the back burner after 6+ months of work and research! ...
I was working with a pyrotechnics specialist to develop shaped fire sculptures. We were working on building gas flame fueled armatures to define the form. AS the costs grew the project was put on the back burner after 6+ months of work and research! ...
W5453
20.10.2012
ñaña - Pablo David Rojas Mencias
WWW
Pablo David Rojas Mencias Kohlfurterstrasse 1, Berlin 10999 dadafoto@gmail.com Project Name: “ñaña” This project couldn’t be finished due to the fact that “ñaña” has passed away. In the native american language, quechua, “ñaña ...
Pablo David Rojas Mencias Kohlfurterstrasse 1, Berlin 10999 dadafoto@gmail.com Project Name: “ñaña” This project couldn’t be finished due to the fact that “ñaña” has passed away. In the native american language, quechua, “ñaña ...
W5357
19.10.2012
The Ministry of Dehydration M.O.D. - Tom Hackett
WWW
The M.O.D was developed in response to the historical function of the Pump House Gallery , the adjacent Thames and the wider social, economic and political aspects which relate to major water courses. ...
The M.O.D was developed in response to the historical function of the Pump House Gallery , the adjacent Thames and the wider social, economic and political aspects which relate to major water courses. ...
W5461
21.10.2012
Living DNA - Nobuho Nagasawa
WWW
Project for UCLA Hospital, Los Angeles, California © Nobuho Nagasawa Concept: All living things contain DNA. The main role of DNA in the cell is the storage of information. It is often compared to a blueprint, since it contains the instructions ...
Project for UCLA Hospital, Los Angeles, California © Nobuho Nagasawa Concept: All living things contain DNA. The main role of DNA in the cell is the storage of information. It is often compared to a blueprint, since it contains the instructions ...
W4886
10.08.2012
Laissez-Passer - Ilana Salama Ortar
WWW
Laissez-Passer Introduction I was born in Alexandria. In the early 1950s my family was forced to leave Egypt with a one-way pass (laissez-passer). On the way to Israel we passed through Marseilles. Due to the circumstances, since post-war Marseilles ...
Laissez-Passer Introduction I was born in Alexandria. In the early 1950s my family was forced to leave Egypt with a one-way pass (laissez-passer). On the way to Israel we passed through Marseilles. Due to the circumstances, since post-war Marseilles ...
W3885
19.05.2011
THE 
CHILHOOD
 OF
 AN 
ENCOUNTER
 - Martin Llavaneras
WWW
At a dinner I met R.M, aged 56 millionaire. We had a conversation. The same night, we entertained the idea of making a project together: ¨...what would happen if you were hanging from a cliff by a rope, and the rope is cut ?... ...
At a dinner I met R.M, aged 56 millionaire. We had a conversation. The same night, we entertained the idea of making a project together: ¨...what would happen if you were hanging from a cliff by a rope, and the rope is cut ?... ...
W4524
25.05.2011
Star Museum in Sharjah - Star Museum in Sharjah by A12
WWW
Star Museum in Sharjah by A12 Our proposal for Sharjah Art Foundation Production Programme was to build a temporary pavilion to host the first stage of the Star Museum, a travelling museum dedicated to the stars. The stars in this museum are not inten ...
Star Museum in Sharjah by A12 Our proposal for Sharjah Art Foundation Production Programme was to build a temporary pavilion to host the first stage of the Star Museum, a travelling museum dedicated to the stars. The stars in this museum are not inten ...
W4871
09.08.2012
Pots - Antigone Michalakopoulou
WWW
Pots. A site specific proposal, for a non permanent installation. A neutral, interior space considered as a “Pot”. Inside this space I build a large scale model, an abstract structure. It consists of carton boxes - rectangular and cubic ones, of ...
Pots. A site specific proposal, for a non permanent installation. A neutral, interior space considered as a “Pot”. Inside this space I build a large scale model, an abstract structure. It consists of carton boxes - rectangular and cubic ones, of ...
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 ...
W4706
26.05.2011
Subway Turnstile Sounds - Sasha Sumner
WWW
Subway Turnstile Sounds - Sasha Sumner © 2011 Imagine paying/swiping your subway card, and instead of hearing the generic beep of the NYC subway turnstile, you hear a strange or beautiful or fun sound. In a row of turnstiles, as more people go through, ...
Subway Turnstile Sounds - Sasha Sumner © 2011 Imagine paying/swiping your subway card, and instead of hearing the generic beep of the NYC subway turnstile, you hear a strange or beautiful or fun sound. In a row of turnstiles, as more people go through, ...
W4633
25.05.2011
ELENA BAJO
WWW
WHEN YOU CUT INTO THE PRESENT THE FUTURE LEAKS OUT (PRODUCTION OF SPACE) “The form of social space is encounter, assembly, simultaneity; social space implies actual or potential assembly at a single point or around that point.” - Henri Lefebvre, from ...
WHEN YOU CUT INTO THE PRESENT THE FUTURE LEAKS OUT (PRODUCTION OF SPACE) “The form of social space is encounter, assembly, simultaneity; social space implies actual or potential assembly at a single point or around that point.” - Henri Lefebvre, from ...
W4828
07.08.2012
Anne Among the Living - Line Kallmayer
WWW
I intended to make a film, Anne Among The Living. I worked on it for a year and a half. We were very advanced in preproduction with many people involved, but the money could not be raised. The funders found it too experimental, too ambitious and risky. ...
I intended to make a film, Anne Among The Living. I worked on it for a year and a half. We were very advanced in preproduction with many people involved, but the money could not be raised. The funders found it too experimental, too ambitious and risky. ...
W4263
24.05.2011
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. - Elpida Karaba
WWW
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized and published the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. The project ...
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized and published the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. The project ...
W3577
13.05.2011
DIMENSIONS VARIABLE: a proposal 07.2010! - Raul J Mendez
WWW
CONTEXT My work reads as a reconciliation of opposites between the private and the public. In other words, it is a codified puzzle of images that continues to grow and develop, drawing from my personal experience as well as from the public domain. There ...
CONTEXT My work reads as a reconciliation of opposites between the private and the public. In other words, it is a codified puzzle of images that continues to grow and develop, drawing from my personal experience as well as from the public domain. There ...
W3840
19.05.2011
One month of picnics. - Ding Ren
WWW
What better place for art and life to intersect, interweave, and co-mingle than in food? In the making, consumption, and presentation of food. Everyone needs to eat, and there are so many politics in this necessity. When art is food and food is art, t ...
What better place for art and life to intersect, interweave, and co-mingle than in food? In the making, consumption, and presentation of food. Everyone needs to eat, and there are so many politics in this necessity. When art is food and food is art, t ...
W4241
24.05.2011
Atsunobu KOHIRA
WWW
Le projet que je propose est une installation sonore dans un paysage naturel qui reprend le fonctionnement d’une horloge. Le jour commence et finit par la cloche de l’église, ou le temple qui indique les horaires tous les jours dans la vie quoti ...
Le projet que je propose est une installation sonore dans un paysage naturel qui reprend le fonctionnement d’une horloge. Le jour commence et finit par la cloche de l’église, ou le temple qui indique les horaires tous les jours dans la vie quoti ...
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 ...
W3545
12.05.2011
GOLDEN - Deanne Butterworth
WWW
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
W3872
19.05.2011
I TO EYE - Jacek Smolicki
WWW
"I to eye" project is an unfinished photo- documentation of author's face to face confrontation with 400 CCTV cameras of Old Town of Jerusalem (2010) Confronting the unrealized city... Jacek Smolicki 2010 Jerusalem is a specific place. The parad ...
"I to eye" project is an unfinished photo- documentation of author's face to face confrontation with 400 CCTV cameras of Old Town of Jerusalem (2010) Confronting the unrealized city... Jacek Smolicki 2010 Jerusalem is a specific place. The parad ...
W5455
20.10.2012
For beauty sake - Mirna Arsovska
WWW
2007 Idea The work is planed to be an interactive video animation, set in the gallery or on a window of the gallery. Video is scene with the birds freely resting on the branches on a tree in the landscape. AUDIO: ... sound of their “talk” .. ...
2007 Idea The work is planed to be an interactive video animation, set in the gallery or on a window of the gallery. Video is scene with the birds freely resting on the branches on a tree in the landscape. AUDIO: ... sound of their “talk” .. ...
W10528
16.05.2014
Somewhere Between 540,412,598 and 579,858,773 Breaths - Alex McKenzie
WWW
Somewhere Between 540,412,598 and 579,858,773 Breaths is an attempt to link the action of breathing to the passage of time and by extension to our own mortality. The project takes the form of a large-scale video installation with 400 separate projectors. ...
Somewhere Between 540,412,598 and 579,858,773 Breaths is an attempt to link the action of breathing to the passage of time and by extension to our own mortality. The project takes the form of a large-scale video installation with 400 separate projectors. ...
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 ...
W4859
08.08.2012
Madness. Alice plays hopscotch - Ula Lewicka
WWW
a project for the exhibition, about Alice in the Wonderland and idea of cutting heads, "Madness - Alice plays hopscotch". draft only: Exhibition Title : Madness. Alice plays hopscotch Time- One week. As the Mad Hatter we won't be killing time. Artis ...
a project for the exhibition, about Alice in the Wonderland and idea of cutting heads, "Madness - Alice plays hopscotch". draft only: Exhibition Title : Madness. Alice plays hopscotch Time- One week. As the Mad Hatter we won't be killing time. Artis ...
W3729
18.05.2011
“Minaret” - Felippe Moraes
WWW
The installation “Minaret” is constituted by a single scaffold 7m high with 2 pairs of stereo speakers in its top emitting simultaneously an African drum counting the prime numbers starting 2, 3, 5, 7, 11… going up to … 89, 97, 101 ...
The installation “Minaret” is constituted by a single scaffold 7m high with 2 pairs of stereo speakers in its top emitting simultaneously an African drum counting the prime numbers starting 2, 3, 5, 7, 11… going up to … 89, 97, 101 ...