Agency of Unrealised Projects
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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.

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

No title, as the project only reached proposal stage - Rikrit Tiravanija

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

Entwurf für einen erneuerten Malkasten 1992 - 1994 - Ulrike Holthöfer

Unbetitelt, Gänse-Projekt + Noch unbetitelt , " Durch den Mund sehen " + Kartoffeln  - Carsten Holler

My House - Uri Tzaig

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

Unrealized Projects - Jonas Meckas

Untitled, modeled after the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal...  - Jenny Holzer

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
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. ...
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W3513
11.05.2011
“Bus Stop” by Mira Hnatyshyn - Mira Hnatyshyn
WWW
“Bus Stop” is a moveable painting based on an image of local commuters waiting for their bus ride. “Bus Stop” explores the cultural significance that public transportation plays in society. As a physical object, t ...
“Bus Stop” is a moveable painting based on an image of local commuters waiting for their bus ride. “Bus Stop” explores the cultural significance that public transportation plays in society. As a physical object, t ...
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W5063
04.09.2012
TheStore - Tine Wilde
WWW
TheStore: The Construct of a Life Package. Proposal for Arhus Kunstbygning 2011. The exhibition space is piled with boxes, containing (fragments of) works of art, gathered around a wooden framework. The visitor is invited to fill up the framework with ...
TheStore: The Construct of a Life Package. Proposal for Arhus Kunstbygning 2011. The exhibition space is piled with boxes, containing (fragments of) works of art, gathered around a wooden framework. The visitor is invited to fill up the framework with ...
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W4574
25.05.2011
Flatten The Mountain Projects - Flatten The Mountain Projects
WWW
A: I liked the film idea initially. B: I'm glad you think the same. We can't sound desperate - I'm going to bed. A: Instead of a Birthday it should be a wedding where we marry together Loverage and Twice Born B: People watching us make work puts me a ...
A: I liked the film idea initially. B: I'm glad you think the same. We can't sound desperate - I'm going to bed. A: Instead of a Birthday it should be a wedding where we marry together Loverage and Twice Born B: People watching us make work puts me a ...
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W5432
20.10.2012
Sheli Lehadpasa (Mine for printing) - Tamar Lederberg
WWW
Sheli Lehadpasa (Mine for printing) Art constitutes a tool for contending with difficult psychological situations. A situation of loss and pain generates creative forces. An illness triggered fervent creativity in my mother. The trauma following her il ...
Sheli Lehadpasa (Mine for printing) Art constitutes a tool for contending with difficult psychological situations. A situation of loss and pain generates creative forces. An illness triggered fervent creativity in my mother. The trauma following her il ...
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W4748
27.05.2011
Retail Therapy - Double A Projects (A. Robles & A. Stein)
WWW
PROPOSAL Title of project: Retail Therapy By: Athena Robles and Anna Stein (aka Double A Projects) Similar to our public project Global Free Store, Retail Therapy is a non-commercial storefront and exhibition that would offer various service ...
PROPOSAL Title of project: Retail Therapy By: Athena Robles and Anna Stein (aka Double A Projects) Similar to our public project Global Free Store, Retail Therapy is a non-commercial storefront and exhibition that would offer various service ...
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W4113
23.05.2011
Xenia Imagines - Simon Chambers
WWW
Xenia Imagines is a proposed website telling a hyperfiction of a painter who allegedly paints xenia, an early form of Roman still life. The paintings, if they do exist may be part of an imaginary collection of paintings inspired by the descriptions of Phi ...
Xenia Imagines is a proposed website telling a hyperfiction of a painter who allegedly paints xenia, an early form of Roman still life. The paintings, if they do exist may be part of an imaginary collection of paintings inspired by the descriptions of Phi ...
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W3775
18.05.2011
Repo Jet’ - Caitlin Berrigan
WWW
Archive of Unrealized Projects 18 May 2011 Dear AUP: I hope you will consider including ‘Repo Jet’ in your Archive of Unrealized Projects. Although I currently lack (and am seeking) the resources to complete it, the project is within the realms of r ...
Archive of Unrealized Projects 18 May 2011 Dear AUP: I hope you will consider including ‘Repo Jet’ in your Archive of Unrealized Projects. Although I currently lack (and am seeking) the resources to complete it, the project is within the realms of r ...
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W4356
25.05.2011
Sutton Scarsdale Hall, The pavilion of post-contemporary curating - Ben Allen
WWW
Sutton Scarsdale Hall, The pavilion of post-contemporary curating If the Sun and Moon Should Doubt/They’d immediately go out William Blake This proposal will be based around three successive phases of projects: infrastructural / experimental / in ...
Sutton Scarsdale Hall, The pavilion of post-contemporary curating If the Sun and Moon Should Doubt/They’d immediately go out William Blake This proposal will be based around three successive phases of projects: infrastructural / experimental / in ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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U9282
22.11.1992
Proposal for a permanent video installation for the NYC headquarters of Sony Corporation - Dara Birnbaum
Unbuilt Roads
INSTALLATION DESCRIPTION: At one end of the proposed installation space (main dining area designated for Sony employees), a wall is used to support a video wall or projection screen, which displays a seam-less flow of large-scale images. These large-s ...
INSTALLATION DESCRIPTION: At one end of the proposed installation space (main dining area designated for Sony employees), a wall is used to support a video wall or projection screen, which displays a seam-less flow of large-scale images. These large-s ...
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W4065
23.05.2011
THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB) FROM THE BIG BANG - Rick Doble
WWW
A PROPOSAL BY RICK DOBLE FOR AN UNREALIZED ART PROJECT BASED ON PROCESSING THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB) FROM THE BIG BANG In 2003 I proposed an art project (see my submitted copy of my proposal to the Exploratorium in San Francisco ...
A PROPOSAL BY RICK DOBLE FOR AN UNREALIZED ART PROJECT BASED ON PROCESSING THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB) FROM THE BIG BANG In 2003 I proposed an art project (see my submitted copy of my proposal to the Exploratorium in San Francisco ...
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W3737
18.05.2011
Pharos - Felippe Moraes
WWW
The installation “Pharos” consists in a 7m scaffold with a “moving head” lighting device that permits the yellow horizontal spinning light beam required for the work. This strong beam spins 365° horizontally, evoking the very symbolic ...
The installation “Pharos” consists in a 7m scaffold with a “moving head” lighting device that permits the yellow horizontal spinning light beam required for the work. This strong beam spins 365° horizontally, evoking the very symbolic ...
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W4807
07.08.2012
Wreck  - Boris Ondreička
WWW
sitting on the driver´s seat of the car wreck reading poems / singing lyrics aloud a couple having sex under that wreck 30 minutes 30 people listening / watching silently standing around and around midnight Wreck, Boris Ondreička ...
sitting on the driver´s seat of the car wreck reading poems / singing lyrics aloud a couple having sex under that wreck 30 minutes 30 people listening / watching silently standing around and around midnight Wreck, Boris Ondreička ...
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W3732
18.05.2011
POP GOES THE WEASEL - Anne O'Callaghan & Barbara Sternberg
WWW
The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below** ...
The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below** ...
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W4006
22.05.2011
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come - Panajachel Biennial (Guatemala): "Shared Sensorium: Assemblages of Love, Labor and Politics"
WWW
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come The Panajachel Biennial was an initiative by a group of young independent curators (Karl Escher, Abbas Ibn Salah al Din, Guillermo Santamarina, Joao Castro da Silva y Takouhi Abesalom) who co ...
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come The Panajachel Biennial was an initiative by a group of young independent curators (Karl Escher, Abbas Ibn Salah al Din, Guillermo Santamarina, Joao Castro da Silva y Takouhi Abesalom) who co ...
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W4687
26.05.2011
August Ventimiglia
WWW
An action to be executed in a large open area. "Common red building brick units stacked then tossed outward to form scatter -- stacked units at center -- scatter dissipates. Survey grid laid over scatter. Create drawings of scatter then collect bricks at ...
An action to be executed in a large open area. "Common red building brick units stacked then tossed outward to form scatter -- stacked units at center -- scatter dissipates. Survey grid laid over scatter. Create drawings of scatter then collect bricks at ...
W3563
12.05.2011
natascha seideneck
WWW
This sculpture was proposed for a crime lab and addresses elements of visibility and invisibly of the building itself, similar to physical evidence uncovering unknown facts. ...
This sculpture was proposed for a crime lab and addresses elements of visibility and invisibly of the building itself, similar to physical evidence uncovering unknown facts. ...
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W4454
25.05.2011
Skin and shelter!  - Resa Gartner
WWW
Skin and shelter! The contemporary city provides many of the existential layers necessary to accommodate an extremely fast paced society. Today, diverse environments intersect in the same spaces. Virtual and real existing places gather or loose in imp ...
Skin and shelter! The contemporary city provides many of the existential layers necessary to accommodate an extremely fast paced society. Today, diverse environments intersect in the same spaces. Virtual and real existing places gather or loose in imp ...
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W5074
05.09.2012
fading memory  - Raymonde Van Santen
WWW
Raymonde van Santen rvansanten@verizon.net Unrealized Projects fading memory Part A and B fit in my ongoing exploration of the cycles of decay and renewal. They will visualize how the passage of time affects memory (Part A), and how memories n ...
Raymonde van Santen rvansanten@verizon.net Unrealized Projects fading memory Part A and B fit in my ongoing exploration of the cycles of decay and renewal. They will visualize how the passage of time affects memory (Part A), and how memories n ...
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W3478
11.05.2011
Tur Dearg (Red Tower) - Joaquin Gasgonia Palencia
WWW
Like many boys, I grew up on kings and queens, knights and castles. There is always a horse to ride, a dragon to slay, a princess to save from the evil baron, and yes, there is always the magic of the druids and the sorcerers. Despite everything that Ir ...
Like many boys, I grew up on kings and queens, knights and castles. There is always a horse to ride, a dragon to slay, a princess to save from the evil baron, and yes, there is always the magic of the druids and the sorcerers. Despite everything that Ir ...
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U9263
01.01.1974
CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten
Unbuilt Roads
Einige Überlegungen zur Emblematik von Ansichtskarten. Abgebildete Sehenswürdigkeiten gelangen auf Ansichtskarten durch die häufig gewählte Zentralperspektive in die Nähe ausgestellter Backwaren. Die siegelhaft stilisierte Heraldik, eines immer wiede ...
Einige Überlegungen zur Emblematik von Ansichtskarten. Abgebildete Sehenswürdigkeiten gelangen auf Ansichtskarten durch die häufig gewählte Zentralperspektive in die Nähe ausgestellter Backwaren. Die siegelhaft stilisierte Heraldik, eines immer wiede ...
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W5444
20.10.2012
The Ghost Room - Veronika Gorelik
WWW
27 crates 6 tones of amber--13000 pounds 10 years to construct baroque music-bach It is around 8 evening--precisely when all black tie art and social events start around a metropolitan city. Not unlike any of these type of events -many people gather ...
27 crates 6 tones of amber--13000 pounds 10 years to construct baroque music-bach It is around 8 evening--precisely when all black tie art and social events start around a metropolitan city. Not unlike any of these type of events -many people gather ...
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W5899
18.10.2013
Bagatelle - Matthijs Muller
WWW
A competition to design a landmark at the motorway exit nearby a nature reserve made me design Bagatelle. The park nearby has a strange history. First, in the early 1960's the polder was used to dump polluted mud from the port of Rotterdam. Then for over ...
A competition to design a landmark at the motorway exit nearby a nature reserve made me design Bagatelle. The park nearby has a strange history. First, in the early 1960's the polder was used to dump polluted mud from the port of Rotterdam. Then for over ...
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W3715
17.05.2011
Deck Chair Gateway
 Proposal
 for 
Broward 
County, 
FL
 - Mags Harries & Lajos Héder
WWW
Increasingly, large‐scale buildings isolate surrounding neighborhoods from Broward County’s coast. An iconic gateway could reconnect the community to the water. DeckChair Gateway will rise up 14 Ft, offering a shaded passageway to the beach and a land ...
Increasingly, large‐scale buildings isolate surrounding neighborhoods from Broward County’s coast. An iconic gateway could reconnect the community to the water. DeckChair Gateway will rise up 14 Ft, offering a shaded passageway to the beach and a land ...
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