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.

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Dog Jaw Monument - A Futurist Tele-introject - Leon Golub

Battery Park City - Per Kirkeby

PROPOSALl + VOORSTEL - Guillame Bijl

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

Post Photographic apparatus - Steven Pippin

The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois

Fax Transmission - Raymond Pettibone and Jason Rhoades

Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3946
20.05.2011
Balancing Act - Tricia McLaughlin
WWW
This living space design is for two people trying to balance their lives together. Every movement in this precarious space shifts that balance. Fortunately the furniture is all hinged. Even when the floor is falling out from under you, the basic amenities ...
This living space design is for two people trying to balance their lives together. Every movement in this precarious space shifts that balance. Fortunately the furniture is all hinged. Even when the floor is falling out from under you, the basic amenities ...
W4344
24.05.2011
Proposal for installation March 2010 - John Kenny
WWW
Proposal for installation March 2010 ...
Proposal for installation March 2010 ...
W3789
18.05.2011
DREAMS IN THE SEA-WITCH HOUSE-BOAT - Mollie Mckinley
WWW
In July 2010, a draft of this artwork was created as an experimental 24-hour site-specific installation in Far Rockaway, Brooklyn, curated by Jess Shaefer, former Director of Hendershot Gallery, NYC. The final and complete boat, as outlined below, has no ...
In July 2010, a draft of this artwork was created as an experimental 24-hour site-specific installation in Far Rockaway, Brooklyn, curated by Jess Shaefer, former Director of Hendershot Gallery, NYC. The final and complete boat, as outlined below, has no ...
W4484
25.05.2011
Phobos self-degradation  - Toby Huddlestone
WWW
Phobos self-degradation – the artist sends a form of self-degrading archival document to the Mars moon Phobos. Stickney crater, Phobos. Imaged by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, March 23, 2008. Place Phobos, the largest of Mars' two moons, and th ...
Phobos self-degradation – the artist sends a form of self-degrading archival document to the Mars moon Phobos. Stickney crater, Phobos. Imaged by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, March 23, 2008. Place Phobos, the largest of Mars' two moons, and th ...
W3975
21.05.2011
From Cancer to Cosmos - Peter Briggs
WWW
My project forms a link between the subterranean, a rarely explored urban space, and the five principal stars of a particular constellation, Cancer. In a nutshell the idea is to construct an underground network linking five manhole covers, the positions o ...
My project forms a link between the subterranean, a rarely explored urban space, and the five principal stars of a particular constellation, Cancer. In a nutshell the idea is to construct an underground network linking five manhole covers, the positions o ...
W4153
23.05.2011
Unrealized Projects 1997 —2002 - Cornford & Cross
WWW
For us, a key function of contemporary art in an open society is to test concepts, assumptions and boundaries. One way we do this is through making site-specific work in public places; our projects are often satirical or polemic in nature, and involve a d ...
For us, a key function of contemporary art in an open society is to test concepts, assumptions and boundaries. One way we do this is through making site-specific work in public places; our projects are often satirical or polemic in nature, and involve a d ...
W4546
25.05.2011
IRON CLOUD - Rick Shaefer
WWW
IRON CLOUD by Rick Shaefer ...
IRON CLOUD by Rick Shaefer ...
W3602
13.05.2011
Dreamland: A great Freudian Theme Park - Zoe Beloff
WWW
This as yet unrealized project aims rebuild Coney Island’s famous Dreamland amusement park that burned down in 1911, as a true Freudian theme park. ...
This as yet unrealized project aims rebuild Coney Island’s famous Dreamland amusement park that burned down in 1911, as a true Freudian theme park. ...
W3913
20.05.2011
Project Title: 10 Museums of Mental Objects (MoMOs) - Judy Freya Sibayan
WWW
I am proposing a performance to establish 10 Museums of Mental Objects. Founded in 2002 by Judy Freya Sibayan and Matt Price, MoMO is a “performance art museum for life.” At present, Price and Sibayan are the curators of and are the Museum of Mental O ...
I am proposing a performance to establish 10 Museums of Mental Objects. Founded in 2002 by Judy Freya Sibayan and Matt Price, MoMO is a “performance art museum for life.” At present, Price and Sibayan are the curators of and are the Museum of Mental O ...
W3843
19.05.2011
Pamela Harris
WWW
"When I was at art school, everyone else would make art and find the best parts and then try to cover up everything else so that was all you saw. I was fascinated by the part that didn't appear to be working and I'd keep working on that part until it took ...
"When I was at art school, everyone else would make art and find the best parts and then try to cover up everything else so that was all you saw. I was fascinated by the part that didn't appear to be working and I'd keep working on that part until it took ...
W3626
14.05.2011
Détente Reflection 195 - Jenny Zhe Chang
WWW
Détente Reflection 195 will be a series of 195 sculptures of intercut, deconstructed and reconstructed table tennis bats that uncannily explores cultural fusions and disconnections between East and West. The word détente of the title refers to the perma ...
Détente Reflection 195 will be a series of 195 sculptures of intercut, deconstructed and reconstructed table tennis bats that uncannily explores cultural fusions and disconnections between East and West. The word détente of the title refers to the perma ...
W10632
10.07.2014
It's About Time - Joel Leibowitz
WWW
To present Time without any subjective components other than it's own process and elemental philological descriptors. Two foam modules one comprised of the letters: TI the other ME "TI" - 64 FEET HIGH X 32 FEET WIDE carrying satellite guidance equip ...
To present Time without any subjective components other than it's own process and elemental philological descriptors. Two foam modules one comprised of the letters: TI the other ME "TI" - 64 FEET HIGH X 32 FEET WIDE carrying satellite guidance equip ...
W4578
25.05.2011
LAIKART - Eirene Efstathiou, Maria Michou, Iris Plaitakis
WWW
LAIKART artist group for unrealized utopian projects Inception LAIKART was an artist group founded in Athens, Greece, by Eirene Efstathiou (artist), Maria Michou (architect) and Iris Plaitakis (artist / archaeologist). In 2006, when LAIKART to ...
LAIKART artist group for unrealized utopian projects Inception LAIKART was an artist group founded in Athens, Greece, by Eirene Efstathiou (artist), Maria Michou (architect) and Iris Plaitakis (artist / archaeologist). In 2006, when LAIKART to ...
W4103
23.05.2011
On  Level  #01   - Håvard Pedersen
WWW
On Level #01 is/was intended to be an authentic looking Hultafors meter where each 1 cm mark would equal 1,1 cm. Though unnoticed at short distances this error would of course grow considerably and consistently provide a 10% error at any length. The meter ...
On Level #01 is/was intended to be an authentic looking Hultafors meter where each 1 cm mark would equal 1,1 cm. Though unnoticed at short distances this error would of course grow considerably and consistently provide a 10% error at any length. The meter ...
W11076
07.04.2016
Temple of Modern Virtue - Vilja Achté
WWW
My work revolves around the relevance of the intentionally incomplete state as a method of production in art and design practice. The term itself is an adaptation of the Renaissance term ‘non-finito’, which quite literally means ‘not finished’, an ...
My work revolves around the relevance of the intentionally incomplete state as a method of production in art and design practice. The term itself is an adaptation of the Renaissance term ‘non-finito’, which quite literally means ‘not finished’, an ...
W4899
11.08.2012
Brasília, Cars, Pools & Other Modernities - Clarissa Tossin
WWW
“Brasília, Cars, Pools & Other Modernities” is the culmination of a body of work that departs from my experience of growing up in Brasília, Brazil’s planned capital. The project consists of a site-specific action in which a 1970s Volkswagen Brasil ...
“Brasília, Cars, Pools & Other Modernities” is the culmination of a body of work that departs from my experience of growing up in Brasília, Brazil’s planned capital. The project consists of a site-specific action in which a 1970s Volkswagen Brasil ...
U9290
01.01.1997
d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. - Christian Boltanski
Unbuilt Roads
Il y a quelques années, j'ai éte invité à réfléchir à la réalisation d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. Ce monument devait être installé en face du Reichstag à Berlin. J'avais répondu alors que je pensais que les monuments étaient ...
Il y a quelques années, j'ai éte invité à réfléchir à la réalisation d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. Ce monument devait être installé en face du Reichstag à Berlin. J'avais répondu alors que je pensais que les monuments étaient ...
W5150
24.09.2012
a Tunnel - Nimrod Reuveni
WWW
A Tunnel - an unrealized project The project was designed for "Fresh Paint 3" art fair in Tel Aviv, 2009, as a special project of Nimrod Reuveni in collaboration with Dani Karavan. Explanation: Three-dimensional composition, consisting of ready m ...
A Tunnel - an unrealized project The project was designed for "Fresh Paint 3" art fair in Tel Aviv, 2009, as a special project of Nimrod Reuveni in collaboration with Dani Karavan. Explanation: Three-dimensional composition, consisting of ready m ...
W4668
25.05.2011
The Hope Tree of New Fribourg - MomenTech
WWW
"The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") Commemorates the Relationship Between the Sister Cities of Fribourg, Switzerland, sister city, Nova Friburgo, Brazil "Hope is the last to die." -- Portuguese proverb NEW YORK, ...
"The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") Commemorates the Relationship Between the Sister Cities of Fribourg, Switzerland, sister city, Nova Friburgo, Brazil "Hope is the last to die." -- Portuguese proverb NEW YORK, ...
W5251
10.10.2012
Katya Fialkova
WWW
The project was supposed to be a video in which an absurd woman tries to ‘fix’ nature. She puts skirts on trees, makeup on flowers and sunscreen on branches. She throws fabric over a gnarly tree stump to make it ‘prettier’. She measures a wide tre ...
The project was supposed to be a video in which an absurd woman tries to ‘fix’ nature. She puts skirts on trees, makeup on flowers and sunscreen on branches. She throws fabric over a gnarly tree stump to make it ‘prettier’. She measures a wide tre ...
W4665
25.05.2011
Kosmossinfonie Nummer 1: Magister Ludi - MomenTech
WWW
Kosmossinfonie Nummer 1: Magister Ludi unrealized project by MomenTech http://momentech.blogspot.com MomenTech’s Kosmossinfonie Nummer 1: Magister Ludi ("Symphony of the Cosmos No. 1: Master of the Game") is a proposed interactive, immersive, site-sp ...
Kosmossinfonie Nummer 1: Magister Ludi unrealized project by MomenTech http://momentech.blogspot.com MomenTech’s Kosmossinfonie Nummer 1: Magister Ludi ("Symphony of the Cosmos No. 1: Master of the Game") is a proposed interactive, immersive, site-sp ...
W4234
24.05.2011
Elise Lammer
WWW
This work is an homage to the lost artwork by John Baldessari "Untitled (after Palm Tree (for Charlemagne)" 1975. This unrealized project aims to collect similar postcards as the ones displayed in Peter Kirby's documentary and recreate Baldessari's lost ...
This work is an homage to the lost artwork by John Baldessari "Untitled (after Palm Tree (for Charlemagne)" 1975. This unrealized project aims to collect similar postcards as the ones displayed in Peter Kirby's documentary and recreate Baldessari's lost ...
W4647
25.05.2011
Este No Es Refugio Para Jornaleros - Jenny Polak
WWW
Este No Es Refugio Para Jornaleros A 2008 proposal for Corona Plaza, Queens, by Jenny Polak Invited by the Queens Museum of Art. The 103 st. 7 station connects Corona to the train known by some as the Immigrant Express. I want to put a small camoufla ...
Este No Es Refugio Para Jornaleros A 2008 proposal for Corona Plaza, Queens, by Jenny Polak Invited by the Queens Museum of Art. The 103 st. 7 station connects Corona to the train known by some as the Immigrant Express. I want to put a small camoufla ...
W3800
18.05.2011
Sinead McDonald
WWW
Part of a series of experimental explorations on the impact of medium and process on the reading of the photographic image, exploring the use of alternative print processes in altering viewers' responses. In using the historical processes of the cyanotyp ...
Part of a series of experimental explorations on the impact of medium and process on the reading of the photographic image, exploring the use of alternative print processes in altering viewers' responses. In using the historical processes of the cyanotyp ...
W4688
26.05.2011
Kim Cook
WWW
Inspired by the sinking Carteret Islands, the Island Flotation Device responds to the changing environment by raising islands with the sea level. The IFD places inhabitants in control of the water level. A simple design allows them to control the amount o ...
Inspired by the sinking Carteret Islands, the Island Flotation Device responds to the changing environment by raising islands with the sea level. The IFD places inhabitants in control of the water level. A simple design allows them to control the amount o ...
W4702
26.05.2011
The Cube - Lisa Hein
WWW
Proposal Rockaway 9/11 memorial Lisa Hein 2002 THE CUBE A bleacher faces the water on Jamaica Bay. It watches the Manhattan skyline to the northwest. The center of the bleacher is cut out in a square. A black cube rises through. ...
Proposal Rockaway 9/11 memorial Lisa Hein 2002 THE CUBE A bleacher faces the water on Jamaica Bay. It watches the Manhattan skyline to the northwest. The center of the bleacher is cut out in a square. A black cube rises through. ...