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.

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

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

Unrealized project for Tate Gallery + ICA, 1969 - Gilbert and George

Aus: Katalog 'Kunst bleibt Kunst' - Hans Peter Feldman

Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone

Nicht realisierte Projekte - Stefan Demary

Invitation Space No.1 - Tania Mouraud

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4637
25.05.2011
Tesseract - Darr Tah Lei
WWW
Inside a Tesseract is a project for a polyptych of six installations placed inside the structure of an imaginary folding/unfolding cube. The content of the six installations will correlate to each other organically, by the composition of essential element ...
Inside a Tesseract is a project for a polyptych of six installations placed inside the structure of an imaginary folding/unfolding cube. The content of the six installations will correlate to each other organically, by the composition of essential element ...
U9673
01.05.1981
WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum
Unbuilt Roads
Extracts from an unpublished interview with Michael Archer for Phaidon press: ...Around the same period I made a proposal for the New Contemporaries exhibition which was going to be held at the ICA. In those days the toilets were on either side of the ...
Extracts from an unpublished interview with Michael Archer for Phaidon press: ...Around the same period I made a proposal for the New Contemporaries exhibition which was going to be held at the ICA. In those days the toilets were on either side of the ...
W11050
01.06.2016
B R E A T H E - Acrylicize
WWW
‘Breathe’ intrinsically tells the unique story about the new St Mary’s Square Development, reflecting its past and celebrating the character of the area. This forward thinking modern artistic sculpture is artistically progressive in nature. It creat ...
‘Breathe’ intrinsically tells the unique story about the new St Mary’s Square Development, reflecting its past and celebrating the character of the area. This forward thinking modern artistic sculpture is artistically progressive in nature. It creat ...
W3637
14.05.2011
lemeh42
WWW
Here are a couple of my two new illustrations. ...
Here are a couple of my two new illustrations. ...
W4297
24.05.2011
WRAPPED MOON PROJECT - Reynard Loki
WWW
WRAPPED MOON PROJECT An Unrealized Project by Reynard Loki http://wrappedmoonproject.blogspot.com/ BACKGROUND On February 16, 1998, using the pseudonym of Red Q. Nary, I sent out the following e-mail to Woody Smith, the Curator of website of t ...
WRAPPED MOON PROJECT An Unrealized Project by Reynard Loki http://wrappedmoonproject.blogspot.com/ BACKGROUND On February 16, 1998, using the pseudonym of Red Q. Nary, I sent out the following e-mail to Woody Smith, the Curator of website of t ...
W4211
24.05.2011
Elpida Karaba
WWW
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. ...
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. ...
W4016
22.05.2011
UNVEIL - Alessandro Rolandi
WWW
action-performance for Caochangdi Village project, spring 2011 1) With the help of several artists and local people from Caochangdi village,the message would be spread around of an artistic action involving the local people 2) After having bought arou ...
action-performance for Caochangdi Village project, spring 2011 1) With the help of several artists and local people from Caochangdi village,the message would be spread around of an artistic action involving the local people 2) After having bought arou ...
W4411
25.05.2011
PROJECT SUN RITE „GRAVITATION“ REAL LIFE  - Maria Dundakova
WWW
PROJECT SUN RITE „GRAVITATION“ REAL LIFE place of communication = city of transformation Contribution for the first international Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition 2010, Abu Dhabi The project is an open-ended work, a WORK I ...
PROJECT SUN RITE „GRAVITATION“ REAL LIFE place of communication = city of transformation Contribution for the first international Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition 2010, Abu Dhabi The project is an open-ended work, a WORK I ...
W3567
12.05.2011
Connecting the Dots 2002  - Julianna Balogh
WWW
Concept: Why we cannot get along? I am terribly disturbed by the fact that war is still in our vocabulary at the beginning of the 21st century. Medium: High polished golden color bronze, and unpol We are all connected from the North pole to the Sout ...
Concept: Why we cannot get along? I am terribly disturbed by the fact that war is still in our vocabulary at the beginning of the 21st century. Medium: High polished golden color bronze, and unpol We are all connected from the North pole to the Sout ...
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 ...
W3698
16.05.2011
Future Studies - Javier Fresneda
WWW
About Future Studies is a process of iconographic and structural relationships across time and space. This series of images begins as an ironic adaptation of archaeological anastylosis concept; the technique of reconstruction of a monument i ...
About Future Studies is a process of iconographic and structural relationships across time and space. This series of images begins as an ironic adaptation of archaeological anastylosis concept; the technique of reconstruction of a monument i ...
W5187
30.09.2012
Untitled (‘Hold my Emotions’)  - Betty Nigianni
WWW
Untitled (‘Hold my Emotions’) - - Cast objects, plaster moulds, and coloured wax, 10x8 cm approx. (2011) The objects were developed around the Romantic idea that physical forms can gain the significance of projected emotions. Objects, which were f ...
Untitled (‘Hold my Emotions’) - - Cast objects, plaster moulds, and coloured wax, 10x8 cm approx. (2011) The objects were developed around the Romantic idea that physical forms can gain the significance of projected emotions. Objects, which were f ...
W4185
24.05.2011
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 ...
W3790
18.05.2011
Bone-Grass Boy: The Secret Banks of the Conejos River (1995-2000)  - Ken Gonzales-Day
WWW
Original blurb: Bone-Grass Boy: The Secret Banks of the Conejos River (1995-2000) was a conceptually driven project that manifested itself in two ways: one, as a literary trope of the frontier novel of the late nineteenth century, and two, as a digitally ...
Original blurb: Bone-Grass Boy: The Secret Banks of the Conejos River (1995-2000) was a conceptually driven project that manifested itself in two ways: one, as a literary trope of the frontier novel of the late nineteenth century, and two, as a digitally ...
W5391
20.10.2012
PRESIDENT OBAMA SPEECH ON THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN STRETCHED TO THE DURATION OF 3520 DAYS  - Moritz Fingerhut
WWW
Title: PRESIDENT OBAMA SPEECH ON THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN STRETCHED TO THE DURATION OF 3520 DAYS (audio work) Description: The speech from President Obama, given on May 1st 2011 (see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19‐d0U ) is 9:28 min ...
Title: PRESIDENT OBAMA SPEECH ON THE DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN STRETCHED TO THE DURATION OF 3520 DAYS (audio work) Description: The speech from President Obama, given on May 1st 2011 (see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19‐d0U ) is 9:28 min ...
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 ...
W10717
11.09.2014
Parallelle Projekte in der Stadt Münster, 1997 - Nicolaisen Terje
WWW
At my final year in the Academy I went to Münster to show my projects with Yellow Light. Should I wait till I am 60 to be invited or just go to the party uninvited? Kasper König made it clear to me in his office at Landesmuseum that this was a private p ...
At my final year in the Academy I went to Münster to show my projects with Yellow Light. Should I wait till I am 60 to be invited or just go to the party uninvited? Kasper König made it clear to me in his office at Landesmuseum that this was a private p ...
W4507
25.05.2011
Second nature – A dystopian view into virtual farming - Aditi Ruiz
WWW
Second nature – A dystopian view into virtual farming There are 80 million urban farmers across the world, but they are farming virtually through social networks. What does this imply for the future of the farm? How is this reshaping our perception o ...
Second nature – A dystopian view into virtual farming There are 80 million urban farmers across the world, but they are farming virtually through social networks. What does this imply for the future of the farm? How is this reshaping our perception o ...
W5304
17.10.2012
Antarctica Melts Project 1971-2012 - Luciano Zubillaga
WWW
Antarctica Melts Project 1971-2012 The Antarctica Melts Project is a collaboration between artists Luciano Zubillaga and Carlos Ginzburg. It is an extended reconstruction of an historically unrealized ecological project by Argentine conceptualism o ...
Antarctica Melts Project 1971-2012 The Antarctica Melts Project is a collaboration between artists Luciano Zubillaga and Carlos Ginzburg. It is an extended reconstruction of an historically unrealized ecological project by Argentine conceptualism o ...
W5198
03.10.2012
Radiation Limit - Sarah Kanouse
WWW
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
W5257
12.10.2012
Unseen Connections - Andrei Sidorkin
WWW
This is a project concerning social and institutional critique both. It is the play with the problem of localization of the place where art should happen, but suddenly it appears in another place than it was expected. And also this project reveals conform ...
This is a project concerning social and institutional critique both. It is the play with the problem of localization of the place where art should happen, but suddenly it appears in another place than it was expected. And also this project reveals conform ...
W3751
18.05.2011
A FIRED FIELD - HECTOR MAVRIDIS
WWW
The action of breaking and turning over earth with a plow always fascinated me, the clods of earth being the result of this action, a simple 'gesture' from a machine which nevertheless brings about a dramatic change to the landscape, an awesome ephemeral ...
The action of breaking and turning over earth with a plow always fascinated me, the clods of earth being the result of this action, a simple 'gesture' from a machine which nevertheless brings about a dramatic change to the landscape, an awesome ephemeral ...
W4413
25.05.2011
Monuments to Real Life - Inga Burrows
WWW
Monuments to Real Life Monument 2. Twins Digital Video installation research phase began Autumn 2008 in Nuertingen Germany and was aborted in May 2009. Monument 2. ‘Twins’ is the unrealized sibling to Monument 1 ‘Well I Never…’ 2007(www.w ...
Monuments to Real Life Monument 2. Twins Digital Video installation research phase began Autumn 2008 in Nuertingen Germany and was aborted in May 2009. Monument 2. ‘Twins’ is the unrealized sibling to Monument 1 ‘Well I Never…’ 2007(www.w ...
W3753
18.05.2011
24 hours – surveillance of the sun - renata padovan
WWW
"24 Hs - Surveillance of the sun" is a project that maps sunsets and sunrises around the world. It aims at placing the viewer face to face with the idea of relative time and space. Considering that in 24 hours the Earth completes a full rotation in re ...
"24 Hs - Surveillance of the sun" is a project that maps sunsets and sunrises around the world. It aims at placing the viewer face to face with the idea of relative time and space. Considering that in 24 hours the Earth completes a full rotation in re ...
W4088
23.05.2011
ANOTHER ACCELERATOR
WWW
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of the CERN is nowadays the bigger and sophisticated machine of the world. So then it would be seen as a very interesting scientific feature, and also as a marvellous thing, that probably will show us many of the most desir ...
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of the CERN is nowadays the bigger and sophisticated machine of the world. So then it would be seen as a very interesting scientific feature, and also as a marvellous thing, that probably will show us many of the most desir ...
W5024
31.08.2012
Generali Project - Omri Livne
WWW
Generali Project. Generali Project is a project I started to develop this year in Vienna, Austria and transferred to Jerusalem, I eventually fitted it to the needs of Jerusalem, Israel. The project is in format of a lecture or projected presentation as ...
Generali Project. Generali Project is a project I started to develop this year in Vienna, Austria and transferred to Jerusalem, I eventually fitted it to the needs of Jerusalem, Israel. The project is in format of a lecture or projected presentation as ...