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.

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

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

Arrangement Stroom HCBK Den Haag - Ange Leccia

119. PROJET DE DESTRUCTION DU MUSEE 1970 - 1971 - Jef Geys

654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha

Merci, Thank you, Danke: Les 2 sujets  - Thomas Hirschorn

PROJECT FOR A COMMUNITY CENTER, AVENUE DES NARCISSES, CHENOVE - Vito Acconci

Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery  - Erik Dietman

Chen H.V.O + G.T. - Bertrand Lavier

Projets non réalisés: - Daniel Buren

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3683
16.05.2011
Mumfordshire - A Megalopolis - Bruce Asbestos
WWW
Mumfordshire is unrealised plan for a megalopolis (a series of interconnected urban areas), which seeks to re-imagine a complex but positive future of mega-cities and society. Mumfordshire is partly based on revising Lewis Mumford’s idea that the Roman ...
Mumfordshire is unrealised plan for a megalopolis (a series of interconnected urban areas), which seeks to re-imagine a complex but positive future of mega-cities and society. Mumfordshire is partly based on revising Lewis Mumford’s idea that the Roman ...
W3907
20.05.2011
Alan Yates
WWW
As Contemporary art exhibitions develop towards a multiplicity of practises and genres, many are being used for urban regeneration and environmental projects. In this new landscape I wish to lead on initiatives to re-shape the urban landscape to incorpora ...
As Contemporary art exhibitions develop towards a multiplicity of practises and genres, many are being used for urban regeneration and environmental projects. In this new landscape I wish to lead on initiatives to re-shape the urban landscape to incorpora ...
W3530
11.05.2011
Jeanette Doyle
WWW
I crossed a line and entered freshly into a world of signs and symbols. Language became increasingly mutable. Emails and texts contained discrete meanings. Websites too. Spam was addressed to me specifically. The tone could be kind or f ...
I crossed a line and entered freshly into a world of signs and symbols. Language became increasingly mutable. Emails and texts contained discrete meanings. Websites too. Spam was addressed to me specifically. The tone could be kind or f ...
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’. ...
W4584
25.05.2011
Antroepiphytic - Laboratorio 060 & Héctor Zamora
WWW
Héctor Zamora’s (www.lsd.com.mx) project "Antroepiphytic" consists of the building of a walkable tower around an immense tree called “Ceiba de Oro” (a ceiba being a tree typical of tropical regions and a sacred plant to the Mayas), a natural monume ...
Héctor Zamora’s (www.lsd.com.mx) project "Antroepiphytic" consists of the building of a walkable tower around an immense tree called “Ceiba de Oro” (a ceiba being a tree typical of tropical regions and a sacred plant to the Mayas), a natural monume ...
W4673
26.05.2011
A room with a view - amalia caputo
WWW
A room with a view”, 2011 By Amalia Caputo BRIEF DESCRIPTION “A room with a view” is a project for an installation/temporary or permanent exhibition that deals with the physical inversion as an interaction/ direct experience with general pub ...
A room with a view”, 2011 By Amalia Caputo BRIEF DESCRIPTION “A room with a view” is a project for an installation/temporary or permanent exhibition that deals with the physical inversion as an interaction/ direct experience with general pub ...
W5067
05.09.2012
Color Pencil Tree - Dave Rittinger
WWW
Artist and designer Dave Rittinger has developed a proposal for a public art installation entitled 'Color Pencil Tree'. The arboreal sculpture morphs tree branches with the body of the colored drawing tools. The concept is dictated by the usage of exist ...
Artist and designer Dave Rittinger has developed a proposal for a public art installation entitled 'Color Pencil Tree'. The arboreal sculpture morphs tree branches with the body of the colored drawing tools. The concept is dictated by the usage of exist ...
W4973
24.08.2012
neither hidden nor visible - Jean-Charles Agboton-Jumeau
WWW
neither hidden nor visible project description: My project for the Berlin edition of AUP in collaboration with the Berliner Künstlerprogramm/ DAAD is to "document, display and/or archive" the catalogue titled January 5-31, 2009 with its label.... S ...
neither hidden nor visible project description: My project for the Berlin edition of AUP in collaboration with the Berliner Künstlerprogramm/ DAAD is to "document, display and/or archive" the catalogue titled January 5-31, 2009 with its label.... S ...
W4853
08.08.2012
Tyburn Tree - Rick Buckley
WWW
Tyburn Tree Proposal for a site-specific structure Rick Buckley ©2006 ‘Tyburn Tree’ is a site-specific (powder coated) steel structure. Elevated upon three vertical beams, measuring approx 6 metres in height. To stand at the original sit ...
Tyburn Tree Proposal for a site-specific structure Rick Buckley ©2006 ‘Tyburn Tree’ is a site-specific (powder coated) steel structure. Elevated upon three vertical beams, measuring approx 6 metres in height. To stand at the original sit ...
W4558
25.05.2011
rezaafsari
WWW
W4489
25.05.2011
Unrealized Project  - Na'ama Zussman
WWW
Unrealized Project 1 God, memory, if you didn’t exist, I would have to create you. Na’ama Zussman This work offers an Ongoing Meeting Between Reality and Memory, onto anyone can reflects and projects himself, as his dimensions of presentation – pa ...
Unrealized Project 1 God, memory, if you didn’t exist, I would have to create you. Na’ama Zussman This work offers an Ongoing Meeting Between Reality and Memory, onto anyone can reflects and projects himself, as his dimensions of presentation – pa ...
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 ...
W4777
02.06.2011
No Success like Failure - Daniel Permanetter
WWW
NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE “She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.” (Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/ No Limit” 1965) The work consists of two parts. One is a scaffolding construction holding approximately ...
NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE “She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.” (Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/ No Limit” 1965) The work consists of two parts. One is a scaffolding construction holding approximately ...
W10245
09.04.2014
Observatory for the Study of Metropolitan Man - Bastiaan Arler
WWW
The project consists of a temporary structure made of easily available scaffolding that can be installed in any city square. It is open to the public and thus allows people to observe and to be observed in two distinct moments. The project has never been ...
The project consists of a temporary structure made of easily available scaffolding that can be installed in any city square. It is open to the public and thus allows people to observe and to be observed in two distinct moments. The project has never been ...
W4161
23.05.2011
Failure - Pauline Hanson
WWW
http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=72 http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=78 ...
http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=72 http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=78 ...
W3614
13.05.2011
Thanasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani
WWW
In July 1981, and again in February 1989, we proposed to friends of ours and other artists and to everyone it may concern-through texts in the magazines “Sin kai Plin” and “To Bitoni”, to found a football team. We made this proposal because of ...
In July 1981, and again in February 1989, we proposed to friends of ours and other artists and to everyone it may concern-through texts in the magazines “Sin kai Plin” and “To Bitoni”, to found a football team. We made this proposal because of ...
W4861
09.08.2012
Aviation Memories - Alexander Hahn
WWW
Aviation Memories. Response to an 1986 open call for an installation proposal by Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Instead of the usual sketches, I submitted a simulation of the proposed project on video tape using the Macintosh program Mac Draw and the Fair ...
Aviation Memories. Response to an 1986 open call for an installation proposal by Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Instead of the usual sketches, I submitted a simulation of the proposed project on video tape using the Macintosh program Mac Draw and the Fair ...
W3818
19.05.2011
Kelly Jazvac and Patrick Howlett
WWW
An abstract public sculpture that doubles as a large scale bike rack. Our proposal is for a large-scale, powder-coated steel sculpture to be installed in the outdoor sculpture garden at the SculptureCenter. The project will appear to be a prototypical ...
An abstract public sculpture that doubles as a large scale bike rack. Our proposal is for a large-scale, powder-coated steel sculpture to be installed in the outdoor sculpture garden at the SculptureCenter. The project will appear to be a prototypical ...
W3538
11.05.2011
SOPORTE - Gabriel Rico Jimenez
WWW
It will realize a sonorous performance in the place in which I live, will take record on video and examples of the place of natural type, as land or stones and with this to construct a model similar to a table, in which it will show the material obtained ...
It will realize a sonorous performance in the place in which I live, will take record on video and examples of the place of natural type, as land or stones and with this to construct a model similar to a table, in which it will show the material obtained ...
W5126
18.09.2012
Porn I (Zootropo - Juan Alvarez-Durán
WWW
Porn (Part One) ‐ Zoetrope Continually subvert the function of the machine Nan Yun Paik There is a natural sense of the world, but those ways that men have given their perceptions. Jean Mitry The dictionary defines zoetrope. (Zoo‐and gr. Τρόπος ...
Porn (Part One) ‐ Zoetrope Continually subvert the function of the machine Nan Yun Paik There is a natural sense of the world, but those ways that men have given their perceptions. Jean Mitry The dictionary defines zoetrope. (Zoo‐and gr. Τρόπος ...
W4048
22.05.2011
NESTED VOIDS: LA GROTTE DU MAS D’AZIL - Bradley Pitts
WWW
Unrealized Proposal for NESTED VOIDS: LA GROTTE DU MAS D’AZIL
 Bradley Pitts, 2010 The cave of Le Mas-d'Azil (la grotte du Mas d'Azil), FR, was one of the first prehistoric caves to yield evidence of human habitation. Its main feature is a 500-met ...
Unrealized Proposal for NESTED VOIDS: LA GROTTE DU MAS D’AZIL
 Bradley Pitts, 2010 The cave of Le Mas-d'Azil (la grotte du Mas d'Azil), FR, was one of the first prehistoric caves to yield evidence of human habitation. Its main feature is a 500-met ...
W5060
03.09.2012
Indoor swiming pool competition - Rodrigo Lima Arquitecto
WWW
Indoor swiming pool competition. A water surface, running along a curve shaped hangar, ends in a water fall. The water surface contains 4 swimming pools, each one dedicated to a different type of water activity. (Sports or Play) ...
Indoor swiming pool competition. A water surface, running along a curve shaped hangar, ends in a water fall. The water surface contains 4 swimming pools, each one dedicated to a different type of water activity. (Sports or Play) ...
W3701
17.05.2011
Taxonomy of Aborted Ideas - Mariángeles Soto-Díaz
WWW
"Taxonomy of Aborted Ideas" is both a standalone work and a classification system inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Chinese Encyclopedia and Michel Foucault's The Order of Things. Aborted ideas are part of the topography of unrealized projects, but unlike un ...
"Taxonomy of Aborted Ideas" is both a standalone work and a classification system inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' Chinese Encyclopedia and Michel Foucault's The Order of Things. Aborted ideas are part of the topography of unrealized projects, but unlike un ...
W5452
20.10.2012
TRANSCULTURAL BODHISATTVA STUDIES: RE-CONSIDERING THE BODHISATTVA ICON IN A TRANSCULTURAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXT - Isabel Seliger
WWW
Oct. 20, 2012 Isabel Seliger, PhD Proposal for Berliner Künstlerprogramm/ DAAD “unrealized projects” TRANSCULTURAL BODHISATTVA STUDIES: RE-CONSIDERING THE BODHISATTVA ICON IN A TRANSCULTURAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXT Project Abstract: Art histor ...
Oct. 20, 2012 Isabel Seliger, PhD Proposal for Berliner Künstlerprogramm/ DAAD “unrealized projects” TRANSCULTURAL BODHISATTVA STUDIES: RE-CONSIDERING THE BODHISATTVA ICON IN A TRANSCULTURAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXT Project Abstract: Art histor ...
W5260
12.10.2012
snowball - Cristina d'eça Leal
WWW
Synopsis When a snowball slides down a hill, it gathers more snow, becoming bigger and bigger until it can, ultimately, start an avalanche. This analogy is used to explain the success of a certain action. In order to achieve the best result it is fundam ...
Synopsis When a snowball slides down a hill, it gathers more snow, becoming bigger and bigger until it can, ultimately, start an avalanche. This analogy is used to explain the success of a certain action. In order to achieve the best result it is fundam ...
W4063
23.05.2011
Brit Bunkley
WWW
A signpost. An elevated park. ...
A signpost. An elevated park. ...