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.

Relatum (Iron Plate and Stone) - Lee Ufan

The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong

City Hall Tower Night Ilumination - Krysztof Wodiczko

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

Project for the Initiative Mahnmal Homosexuellenverfolgung, Frankfurt  - Jeff Wall

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

Unrealized Projects - Jonas Meckas

Art and Ourselves: A Proposal for the city of Nordhorn - Allen Rupperssberg

Double Exposure 1995-6  - Dan Graham

Progetto per Gerry Schum - Guiseppe Penone

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4300
24.05.2011
Laundry Line - zavick botha
WWW
Washing clothes and laundry lines are common day to day images of human activity throughout most of the world. Although in Western society something so ordinary now takes place behind closed doors. Some people use clothes to express their identity, in oth ...
Washing clothes and laundry lines are common day to day images of human activity throughout most of the world. Although in Western society something so ordinary now takes place behind closed doors. Some people use clothes to express their identity, in oth ...
W4058
23.05.2011
Karl Jensen
WWW
“Yet as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure: but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; ...
“Yet as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure: but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; ...
W3752
18.05.2011
Proposal for an Art-Science cooperation for solar lighting a Lebanese village - roula sorour
WWW
My project was a proposal to light up a village in Lebanon using solar power in cooperation with a local University. My proposal was hurried and could have been written better. I never did receive a reply to my proposal. From: Roula Sorour <r@roula ...
My project was a proposal to light up a village in Lebanon using solar power in cooperation with a local University. My proposal was hurried and could have been written better. I never did receive a reply to my proposal. From: Roula Sorour <r@roula ...
W3940
20.05.2011
A Drummer's Pavilion - Olivia Booth
WWW
The drummers pavilion is meant to dilate a window plane- in fact wrench it open- and counteract the glib overuse of glass in urban architecture. Glass is a lateral horizon into which we can compose and in this single person pavilion one does just that; id ...
The drummers pavilion is meant to dilate a window plane- in fact wrench it open- and counteract the glib overuse of glass in urban architecture. Glass is a lateral horizon into which we can compose and in this single person pavilion one does just that; id ...
W4552
25.05.2011
Untitled - Charmi Gada Shah
WWW
Title: ‘Untitled’ Description: This is a sketch for a site-specific work wherein the façade of a gallery in Mumbai is superimposed by another façade in London, constructed by means of a photographic reference taken by the artist many years ago ...
Title: ‘Untitled’ Description: This is a sketch for a site-specific work wherein the façade of a gallery in Mumbai is superimposed by another façade in London, constructed by means of a photographic reference taken by the artist many years ago ...
U9622
01.01.1970
119. PROJET DE DESTRUCTION DU MUSEE 1970 - 1971 - Jef Geys
Unbuilt Roads
Plan pour devoir Musée o'anu[?]s avec autorisation et aide de ministères contactes (Eventuellement raisons pour lesquelles le travail n'a pu etre realise) Refus ministères de la defense etc. Publications: Kempens informatieblad Contact ...
Plan pour devoir Musée o'anu[?]s avec autorisation et aide de ministères contactes (Eventuellement raisons pour lesquelles le travail n'a pu etre realise) Refus ministères de la defense etc. Publications: Kempens informatieblad Contact ...
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 ...
W5359
19.10.2012
Malignant Ego Boxes - Levan Manjavidze
WWW
Idea for installation, sculpture, which is impossible to realize for me at the moment because of time that runs so fast! One peaceful evening I observed feeling of jealousy and clearly saw that its similar of feeling envy.
In both cases you long fo ...
Idea for installation, sculpture, which is impossible to realize for me at the moment because of time that runs so fast! One peaceful evening I observed feeling of jealousy and clearly saw that its similar of feeling envy.
In both cases you long fo ...
W4969
23.08.2012
Studio Shut Down - Mica Cabildo
WWW
"Studio Shut Down" is a participatory art and graphic design project that I had envisioned to create new marks and visual identities for defunct cultural venues in the Philippines. STUDIO SHUT DOWN submitted by Michelle Angelica “Mica” Cabildo I ...
"Studio Shut Down" is a participatory art and graphic design project that I had envisioned to create new marks and visual identities for defunct cultural venues in the Philippines. STUDIO SHUT DOWN submitted by Michelle Angelica “Mica” Cabildo I ...
W3852
19.05.2011
WILE.E.ARTIST  - Nicole Mortiboys
WWW
Two artists Chris Hodson and Nicole Mortiboys, meet every Wednesday over a period of three years, to make plans and talk about Art. They name themselves WILE.E.ARTIST (since renamed TNT) based around the cartoon character Wile.E.Coyote.They work together ...
Two artists Chris Hodson and Nicole Mortiboys, meet every Wednesday over a period of three years, to make plans and talk about Art. They name themselves WILE.E.ARTIST (since renamed TNT) based around the cartoon character Wile.E.Coyote.They work together ...
W4560
25.05.2011
The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art  - Bill Dolson
WWW
Bill Dolson The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art "Why is there no art in space, why do we have no exhibitions in the sky? Up to now we have left it up to war to light up the sky..." Otto Piene 1961 Reentry is a series of p ...
Bill Dolson The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art "Why is there no art in space, why do we have no exhibitions in the sky? Up to now we have left it up to war to light up the sky..." Otto Piene 1961 Reentry is a series of p ...
W10484
28.04.2014
Tower (Without Walls) - Esther Shalev-Gerz
WWW
Jerusalem, Israel In 1998 Esther Shalev-Gerz proposed the intervention Tower (Without Walls) to the city of Jerusalem. The project consisted of imagining Jerusalem without city walls, by projecting the image of the streets located on the other side ont ...
Jerusalem, Israel In 1998 Esther Shalev-Gerz proposed the intervention Tower (Without Walls) to the city of Jerusalem. The project consisted of imagining Jerusalem without city walls, by projecting the image of the streets located on the other side ont ...
W10398
19.04.2014
Object Non Object - John Kenneth Melvin
WWW
Abstract: The purpose of this document is to explore, establish, and develop the possible application of a large scale temporary installation in the earth’s orbit. Concept: Ideally in order to make that something which questions the materiality ...
Abstract: The purpose of this document is to explore, establish, and develop the possible application of a large scale temporary installation in the earth’s orbit. Concept: Ideally in order to make that something which questions the materiality ...
W4999
30.08.2012
Fiaba - Peter Friedl
WWW
Peter Friedl Fiaba, 1997 The sisters of the previously deceased gallerist Lucio Amelio, legendary well beyond Naples, asked Friedl for a project proposal for an individual exhibition in the gallery whose fate now lay in her hands. Oriented on Neapolit ...
Peter Friedl Fiaba, 1997 The sisters of the previously deceased gallerist Lucio Amelio, legendary well beyond Naples, asked Friedl for a project proposal for an individual exhibition in the gallery whose fate now lay in her hands. Oriented on Neapolit ...
W4183
24.05.2011
Green Times Square - Holly Tempo
WWW
Green Times Square Holly Tempo In late 2007, I was invited to participate in Green-er Sessions: Sketching Solutions to Climate Change, an exhibition in which artists, scientists and architects presented solutions for climate change. I submitted a pr ...
Green Times Square Holly Tempo In late 2007, I was invited to participate in Green-er Sessions: Sketching Solutions to Climate Change, an exhibition in which artists, scientists and architects presented solutions for climate change. I submitted a pr ...
W4590
25.05.2011
Feniksi - Feniksi
WWW
From: Feniksi Re: The Artist’s Heart for Art-Historians, Curators and Art-Critics A Quitting Proposal This proposal has derived from a fond desire to quit being an artist. It has been for some time ...
From: Feniksi Re: The Artist’s Heart for Art-Historians, Curators and Art-Critics A Quitting Proposal This proposal has derived from a fond desire to quit being an artist. It has been for some time ...
W4922
18.08.2012
sin∞fin – The Logbook and Left Over’s Installation "An Itinerary on the Boarders of our Bodies" - VestAndPage (Verena Stenke & Andrea Pagnes)
WWW
The idea of making a Logbook that digs into the core of the poiesis of VestAndPage’s recently edited movie trilogy sin∞fin - The Movie (hybrid opera combining Performance art and filmmaking), as cornerstone of an exhibition installation of various ori ...
The idea of making a Logbook that digs into the core of the poiesis of VestAndPage’s recently edited movie trilogy sin∞fin - The Movie (hybrid opera combining Performance art and filmmaking), as cornerstone of an exhibition installation of various ori ...
W3582
13.05.2011
Umfassung (verborgen) - Sabine Hagmann
WWW
Idee Der Perimeter des St. Johanns-Platz wird während einem Jahr exakt mit einer zweieinhalb Meter hohen Wand eingefasst. Sie schliesst das ganze Gelände ein, mit Rasen, Wegen und Parkbänken. Die kleine Rasenfläche wird durch die Wand als Volu ...
Idee Der Perimeter des St. Johanns-Platz wird während einem Jahr exakt mit einer zweieinhalb Meter hohen Wand eingefasst. Sie schliesst das ganze Gelände ein, mit Rasen, Wegen und Parkbänken. Die kleine Rasenfläche wird durch die Wand als Volu ...
W4059
23.05.2011
The king of the changing face - Transvestites in China - Andreas Guibert
WWW
This photo installation is concern with the materialization of Chinese trans-sexuality during the early twenty first century; a trans-sexuality that acts upon a semiotic deconstruction of the body as a signifier, thus becoming the agent of processes of ge ...
This photo installation is concern with the materialization of Chinese trans-sexuality during the early twenty first century; a trans-sexuality that acts upon a semiotic deconstruction of the body as a signifier, thus becoming the agent of processes of ge ...
W4556
25.05.2011
23 Kilograms - Corina Ilea
WWW
23 Kilograms My project starts from the idea of remembering through photography within the immigrant community. Its objective is to bring to light the intimate relationship that the immigrants preserve with their native land through the photographs the ...
23 Kilograms My project starts from the idea of remembering through photography within the immigrant community. Its objective is to bring to light the intimate relationship that the immigrants preserve with their native land through the photographs the ...
W4068
23.05.2011
Alishia Duncanson
WWW
Title: “Mission Impossible 1” Materials: Wood and M.D.F board Corridor space containing 5- 20 drawings in space, creating semi obstructed spaces to be engaged with by the viewer. The work asks the viewer to investigate both space and time as each ...
Title: “Mission Impossible 1” Materials: Wood and M.D.F board Corridor space containing 5- 20 drawings in space, creating semi obstructed spaces to be engaged with by the viewer. The work asks the viewer to investigate both space and time as each ...
W10290
17.04.2014
NEON GRAFFITI / SHADOW CAMOUFLAGE - Douglas Park
WWW
NEON GRAFFITI / SHADOW CAMOUFLAGE + Explanation / Apology / Excuse / Attempt Destination discovers voyager. Travelator pavement delivers upright paralytic cadaver. Wrong-turning side-street and behind-the-scenes backroom gaping jaws beckon. Entire ...
NEON GRAFFITI / SHADOW CAMOUFLAGE + Explanation / Apology / Excuse / Attempt Destination discovers voyager. Travelator pavement delivers upright paralytic cadaver. Wrong-turning side-street and behind-the-scenes backroom gaping jaws beckon. Entire ...
W4268
24.05.2011
The Winter Garden - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
Proposal for The Winter Garden New York City 1986 ...
Proposal for The Winter Garden New York City 1986 ...
W4084
23.05.2011
"After the Council"  - Hunter/Lassal
WWW
"After the Council" (2006) is a playful reflection upon power and adornment on one level, as well as resources and recycling on another. ...
"After the Council" (2006) is a playful reflection upon power and adornment on one level, as well as resources and recycling on another. ...
W3705
17.05.2011
PA(E/S)SAGGIO - beatrice crastini
WWW
Project to next Documenta-Kassel, at the moment nobody have contact me. It's on the utopia of the cohabitation by Franco Rotelli, historic successor by Franco Basaglia father of the psychiatric revolution Beauty is a need, the ugliness makes it ugly. ...
Project to next Documenta-Kassel, at the moment nobody have contact me. It's on the utopia of the cohabitation by Franco Rotelli, historic successor by Franco Basaglia father of the psychiatric revolution Beauty is a need, the ugliness makes it ugly. ...
W4155
23.05.2011
Got to the Studio - Oli Sorenson
WWW
The “Got to the Studio” series is a yet-to-be realised project, recording several failed attempts to make a masterpiece, or similar great work of art, either through lack of talent or simple laziness. ...
The “Got to the Studio” series is a yet-to-be realised project, recording several failed attempts to make a masterpiece, or similar great work of art, either through lack of talent or simple laziness. ...