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.

654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha

Monument to Democracy - Kounellis

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

La Guerra De Los Simbolos - Victor Grippo

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

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

Battery Park City - Per Kirkeby

Temple of the western buddha (1971 Kathmedu) - Herman de Vries

Unrealized Projects - Jonas Meckas

Chen H.V.O + G.T. - Bertrand Lavier

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5496
30.10.2012
Hermitage Pilgrimage: Art Video - Sheridan Lowrey
WWW
The first project, "Contemporary Neo-Objective Sculpture," describes a combination of objects, an installation, which I prefer to leave as text. The second, "Hermitage Toilet Overflow," an unawarded sabbatical proposal. Sheridan Lowrey Full-time Fa ...
The first project, "Contemporary Neo-Objective Sculpture," describes a combination of objects, an installation, which I prefer to leave as text. The second, "Hermitage Toilet Overflow," an unawarded sabbatical proposal. Sheridan Lowrey Full-time Fa ...
W3597
13.05.2011
Heman Chong
WWW
I wanted to purchase the coffee table in Room 503, Hong Lou Hotel, Lianzhou, China and to mount it as a monument for all the shady deals that have been worked out over this table at a solo at Vitamin Creative Space in Guangzhou. ...
I wanted to purchase the coffee table in Room 503, Hong Lou Hotel, Lianzhou, China and to mount it as a monument for all the shady deals that have been worked out over this table at a solo at Vitamin Creative Space in Guangzhou. ...
W4308
24.05.2011
Adam Battestilli
WWW
POEM You view the world Through rose-tinted handsoap In a clear plastic bottle Pressed up against your eye. People ask you why. You sigh, and you reply, Why, it makes everything pink! And helps me rid My fingers of the stink Of ...
POEM You view the world Through rose-tinted handsoap In a clear plastic bottle Pressed up against your eye. People ask you why. You sigh, and you reply, Why, it makes everything pink! And helps me rid My fingers of the stink Of ...
W4007
22.05.2011
BEGGARS' BANQUET - Alessandro Rolandi
WWW
A group of 8-10 performance artists dressed as beggars and actually experience for several days the experience of begging in the street. A gallery sets up a show for a new cutting edge unknown artist, whose work consists into hanging to the walls forms o ...
A group of 8-10 performance artists dressed as beggars and actually experience for several days the experience of begging in the street. A gallery sets up a show for a new cutting edge unknown artist, whose work consists into hanging to the walls forms o ...
W4902
12.08.2012
City of Fountains - A. Bitterman
WWW
City of Fountains proposes an exchange between the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Kansas City's east side neighborhoods in an effort to disrupt and reposition geographies of race and privilege. ...
City of Fountains proposes an exchange between the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Kansas City's east side neighborhoods in an effort to disrupt and reposition geographies of race and privilege. ...
W4173
24.05.2011
Mitya Nesterov
WWW
Project with a work title ZOO, series of hand printed color photographs installed inside animal and bird cages ...
Project with a work title ZOO, series of hand printed color photographs installed inside animal and bird cages ...
W4406
25.05.2011
Incongruous Runaway Homes, to run away with or to run to. - Eleanna Horiti
WWW
Incongruous Runaway Homes, to run away with or to run to. A formulation of childhood visions The Runaway Roulotte was to be made of wooden planks and mud! A bicycle wheel with pedals attached to it and cart wheels. Its most important feature was tha ...
Incongruous Runaway Homes, to run away with or to run to. A formulation of childhood visions The Runaway Roulotte was to be made of wooden planks and mud! A bicycle wheel with pedals attached to it and cart wheels. Its most important feature was tha ...
W3899
20.05.2011
SIN TITULO - Daniela Huerta
WWW
SIN TITULO Nails, wall, dust and red thread. Dimensions variable 2010 This is a project that perhaps was never intended to be realized. It was rather an action and a documentation of it. The beginning and the end is the wall, as it works as a state ...
SIN TITULO Nails, wall, dust and red thread. Dimensions variable 2010 This is a project that perhaps was never intended to be realized. It was rather an action and a documentation of it. The beginning and the end is the wall, as it works as a state ...
W4287
24.05.2011
Struggling with the Ancestors - Charlie Lucas
WWW
Charlie Lucas (Tin Man) Struggling with the Ancestors Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice Presented by American Folk Art Museum at Fondaco dei Tedeschi, June 2011 Artist Statement I create beauty from t ...
Charlie Lucas (Tin Man) Struggling with the Ancestors Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice Presented by American Folk Art Museum at Fondaco dei Tedeschi, June 2011 Artist Statement I create beauty from t ...
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 ...
W4747
26.05.2011
A Night Class in Utopia - Ross Birrell
WWW
Please find attached Letters relating to the unrealised project by Ross Birrell, A Night Class In Utopia All relevant information is contained in the letters. A Night Class in Utopia An unrealised project proposed to the Scottish Parliament 2000 C ...
Please find attached Letters relating to the unrealised project by Ross Birrell, A Night Class In Utopia All relevant information is contained in the letters. A Night Class in Utopia An unrealised project proposed to the Scottish Parliament 2000 C ...
W3661
15.05.2011
Efrat Kedem
WWW
Project description All over the world there are bus stops, They serves us as buildings for a fleeting moment, a man passes them and wait some time before the bus arrives, then, continues on his way, We stand or sit in stations for a few minutes, some ...
Project description All over the world there are bus stops, They serves us as buildings for a fleeting moment, a man passes them and wait some time before the bus arrives, then, continues on his way, We stand or sit in stations for a few minutes, some ...
U9816
05.02.1990
The pyramids...to be seen to be believed - Jonathan Monk
Unbuilt Roads
Glasgow 1990 Cultural Capital of Europe 5 February 1990 Mr Jonathan Monk 22 Cecil Street Hillhead Glasgow G12 8RH Dear Jonathan Monk Thank you very much for your exciting letter concerning your proposed project for this year namely ...
Glasgow 1990 Cultural Capital of Europe 5 February 1990 Mr Jonathan Monk 22 Cecil Street Hillhead Glasgow G12 8RH Dear Jonathan Monk Thank you very much for your exciting letter concerning your proposed project for this year namely ...
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 ...
W4813
07.08.2012
Guerrilla Moustaches - Carolyn McKay
WWW
Unrealized Project- Guerrilla Moustaches Earlier this year I travelled from Sydney to Berlin and started a guerrilla moustache campaign on areas of graffiti and street posters. Unfortunately, many of the moustaches I had brought from Australia had lost ...
Unrealized Project- Guerrilla Moustaches Earlier this year I travelled from Sydney to Berlin and started a guerrilla moustache campaign on areas of graffiti and street posters. Unfortunately, many of the moustaches I had brought from Australia had lost ...
W5477
21.10.2012
Wojciech Gilewicz
WWW
With making the described below proposal in the framework of an open call organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (in progress since 2005), I wanted to develop in 2005 in Warsaw public space a project consisting in both revival of Warsaw urban fab ...
With making the described below proposal in the framework of an open call organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (in progress since 2005), I wanted to develop in 2005 in Warsaw public space a project consisting in both revival of Warsaw urban fab ...
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 ...
W3493
11.05.2011
SEX CHAT KARAOKE - Sally-Ann Blaise
WWW
SEX CHAT KARAOKE A Selection of TEXT collected by artist through late night sex chat rooms is printed in duplicate and arranged at the corner of a stage, upon which a small FUNK BAND is playing a GROOVE. audience participate by selecting text in tandem ...
SEX CHAT KARAOKE A Selection of TEXT collected by artist through late night sex chat rooms is printed in duplicate and arranged at the corner of a stage, upon which a small FUNK BAND is playing a GROOVE. audience participate by selecting text in tandem ...
W5504
15.11.2012
(M)other - Alireza Labeshka
WWW
My mother says when I was a baby it was not easy to wean me off her breast. Later on in order to make me give up the pacifier, my mom pinned it to the curtain of my room so I would suppose it wounded and that it cannot be used again. I have heard that day ...
My mother says when I was a baby it was not easy to wean me off her breast. Later on in order to make me give up the pacifier, my mom pinned it to the curtain of my room so I would suppose it wounded and that it cannot be used again. I have heard that day ...
W4005
22.05.2011
Chris Johnson
WWW
I propose to cut involute spur gears into the ice of a central park lake. Imposing a simple machine will add something to the natural world. A prototype of the proposal can be seen at: http://vimeo.com/23778323 ...
I propose to cut involute spur gears into the ice of a central park lake. Imposing a simple machine will add something to the natural world. A prototype of the proposal can be seen at: http://vimeo.com/23778323 ...
W4256
24.05.2011
APOTHEOSIS - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL APOTHEOSIS, 1994 Proposal for Pier 32, Hudson River, New York City ,Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City, Public Art Fund, Paine Webber Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue) Project Description: We are ch ...
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL APOTHEOSIS, 1994 Proposal for Pier 32, Hudson River, New York City ,Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City, Public Art Fund, Paine Webber Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue) Project Description: We are ch ...
W5478
21.10.2012
Static BillBoards  - Kenneth Millington
WWW
A project of painting television static on a series of free standing billboards along an expressway. TITLE: Static BillBoards OVERVIEW: Having worked as a large-­‐ scale public muralist and a fine artist for years, I propose to paint a large-­ ...
A project of painting television static on a series of free standing billboards along an expressway. TITLE: Static BillBoards OVERVIEW: Having worked as a large-­‐ scale public muralist and a fine artist for years, I propose to paint a large-­ ...
W3501
11.05.2011
The Replacement Weather - Rebecca Hackemann
WWW
The Replacement Weather consists of replacement clouds for replacement weather, consisting of sculptural light installation. In case the real clouds become defunct, obsolete or unusable, I am proposing a quasi spoof proposal format of a light and sculptur ...
The Replacement Weather consists of replacement clouds for replacement weather, consisting of sculptural light installation. In case the real clouds become defunct, obsolete or unusable, I am proposing a quasi spoof proposal format of a light and sculptur ...
W3740
18.05.2011
SMOKE SIGNAL CLOCK - Gabriel Lester
WWW
On the hour, as many clouds as hours. Drifting above city and/or landscape. Warm smoke of high density - such as is used for air shows (see image attached). Should preferably be realized in city or country with clear skies. ...
On the hour, as many clouds as hours. Drifting above city and/or landscape. Warm smoke of high density - such as is used for air shows (see image attached). Should preferably be realized in city or country with clear skies. ...
W3958
20.05.2011
Siphon Puti Fountain - Michael Arata
WWW
Siphon Puti Fountain, Styrofoam, paper, wood and plastic tubing penis, two water containers. The siphon Puti Fountain (suck it) directly references European Puti fountains. This Fountain was meant to be realized as a manual fountain based on the same ...
Siphon Puti Fountain, Styrofoam, paper, wood and plastic tubing penis, two water containers. The siphon Puti Fountain (suck it) directly references European Puti fountains. This Fountain was meant to be realized as a manual fountain based on the same ...
W3481
11.05.2011
Experiments In Organza - Helen Maher
WWW
Press release. Helen maher. ‘Experiments In Organza’ Textile Sculptor, living & working in London. Current project, ‘Experiments in Organza’, investigates the interaction between Primary Elements- Solids, Liquids & Gases & Secondary Elem ...
Press release. Helen maher. ‘Experiments In Organza’ Textile Sculptor, living & working in London. Current project, ‘Experiments in Organza’, investigates the interaction between Primary Elements- Solids, Liquids & Gases & Secondary Elem ...