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.

Placid Earth: A Project for the Meeting of Millennia - Cai Guo Quiang

AUSSICHTSTURM, HOLZHAUS (WOHNHAUS), SCHWIMMBECKEN, FREIE FAHRT - Maria Eichhorn

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

Projekt für die Landschaft des Mont-de-Sene (Burgund) im Rahmen eines öffentlichen Auftrags des französischen Kultusministeriums - Markus Raetz

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

Proposal for a permanent video installation for the NYC headquarters of Sony Corporation - Dara Birnbaum

Ruderaltisch, 1994/95 Kunst am Bau - Projekt - Lois Weinberger

The World Record - General Idea

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

MODELL OF AN OFFICE FOR A COUPLE OF TWINS, BOTH 1,38 TALL" - Tobias Rehrenberg

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4703
26.05.2011
Sterling Crispin
WWW
My project involves a globally connected network of participants wearing EEG brain-computer interfaces. By displaying the average of thousands of live readings back to the participants their minds will slowly become closer to the average. Emerging brai ...
My project involves a globally connected network of participants wearing EEG brain-computer interfaces. By displaying the average of thousands of live readings back to the participants their minds will slowly become closer to the average. Emerging brai ...
W4353
25.05.2011
Circular escalator - Ricardo Gomes
WWW
Circular escalator Through our research of the City of Perth’s master plan, the public success of the revitalization of Forrest Place not only depends upon the current restructuring already under way in the vicinity, but also upon the creation of a n ...
Circular escalator Through our research of the City of Perth’s master plan, the public success of the revitalization of Forrest Place not only depends upon the current restructuring already under way in the vicinity, but also upon the creation of a n ...
W4038
22.05.2011
Les dessous de Môtiers - Jacqueline Benz
WWW
Les dessous de Môtiers Le toit est soulevé par une grue, 80 cm d’intervalle marquent l’écart entre le bâtiment et le toit. Les pans du toit ont l’air de flotter un peu au-dessus de la maison, dans une légère mise en mouvement. Rien n’est ...
Les dessous de Môtiers Le toit est soulevé par une grue, 80 cm d’intervalle marquent l’écart entre le bâtiment et le toit. Les pans du toit ont l’air de flotter un peu au-dessus de la maison, dans une légère mise en mouvement. Rien n’est ...
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 ...
W3685
16.05.2011
Core Dump for a Crashed Planet  - Julian Priest
WWW
Core Dump for a Crashed Planet was a proposal for the 2008 Climate Clock project in San Jose, California. The brief was for a public art piece that created a feedback mechanism to make the process of climate change visible to the public. ...
Core Dump for a Crashed Planet was a proposal for the 2008 Climate Clock project in San Jose, California. The brief was for a public art piece that created a feedback mechanism to make the process of climate change visible to the public. ...
W3516
11.05.2011
Hugo Houayek
WWW
To build bridges supporting pillars are needed. To construct pillars art is necessary. Build permanent bridges with ephemeral colored pillars. ...
To build bridges supporting pillars are needed. To construct pillars art is necessary. Build permanent bridges with ephemeral colored pillars. ...
U9793
01.01.1997
Isometric Projection - Sol Lewitt
Unbuilt Roads
U9858
01.01.1995
"400" - Manfred Pernice
Unbuilt Roads
1995-96 Weile bestand ein Zusammenhang. eng. [unleserlich] ihn nicht gesucht. Möglichkeiten nahm er nicht wahr. Das Sockel (1) ergibt 11-fach vervielfältigt, Modell einer grosser Wohn- und Geschäftsanlag; [M?]aßtab 1:100, welches im Ausstellung ...
1995-96 Weile bestand ein Zusammenhang. eng. [unleserlich] ihn nicht gesucht. Möglichkeiten nahm er nicht wahr. Das Sockel (1) ergibt 11-fach vervielfältigt, Modell einer grosser Wohn- und Geschäftsanlag; [M?]aßtab 1:100, welches im Ausstellung ...
W3906
20.05.2011
Michael Hanna
WWW
W4278
24.05.2011
Hector Prats
WWW
This unrealized project was based on the idea of filling a private space (an standard 70 square meters apartment) with a scale model representing an alpine mountain landscape. Some people have on their homes rooms wich have been adapted to house scale mod ...
This unrealized project was based on the idea of filling a private space (an standard 70 square meters apartment) with a scale model representing an alpine mountain landscape. Some people have on their homes rooms wich have been adapted to house scale mod ...
W4270
24.05.2011
BLAKKK MAGAZINE by PETERSON RUIZ
WWW
BLACK STICKER TAPES ON FASHION CATALOGUE PAGES ...
BLACK STICKER TAPES ON FASHION CATALOGUE PAGES ...
W3490
11.05.2011
The boundless forwarding parcel - Eric Van Hove
WWW
The boundless forwarding parcel This unrealized project would consist in having a postal strongbox being shipped throughout the DHL or FedEx international express mail services endlessly. After it reaches a destination, the box is automatically shipped ...
The boundless forwarding parcel This unrealized project would consist in having a postal strongbox being shipped throughout the DHL or FedEx international express mail services endlessly. After it reaches a destination, the box is automatically shipped ...
W3974
21.05.2011
CLIFF PIPES PROPOSAL - Jason de Haan
WWW
A proposal for a set of organ pipes to be mounted on the face of an oceanic cliff. The pipes are to be mounted vertically on simple steel rods that are strategically placed along a section of cliff in order to translate strong vertical updrafts into indiv ...
A proposal for a set of organ pipes to be mounted on the face of an oceanic cliff. The pipes are to be mounted vertically on simple steel rods that are strategically placed along a section of cliff in order to translate strong vertical updrafts into indiv ...
W4069
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 ...
W10245
09.04.2014
Observatory for the Study of Metropolitan Man - Bastiaan Arler
WWW
The project consists of a temporary structure made of easily available scaffolding that can be installed in any city square. It is open to the public and thus allows people to observe and to be observed in two distinct moments. The project has never been ...
The project consists of a temporary structure made of easily available scaffolding that can be installed in any city square. It is open to the public and thus allows people to observe and to be observed in two distinct moments. The project has never been ...
W5006
30.08.2012
Das soziale NetzKunstwerk - Karen Eliot
WWW
An internet forum/ social network for Open Source Art projects: Artists always have unrealized ideas - things that just slumber in sketchbooks forever. We want to create a website, where users can propose such projects and leave it open for others to adop ...
An internet forum/ social network for Open Source Art projects: Artists always have unrealized ideas - things that just slumber in sketchbooks forever. We want to create a website, where users can propose such projects and leave it open for others to adop ...
W4219
24.05.2011
I dream of you - Costa Vece
WWW
I would like to install a neon writing work with the sentence; I dream of you on the roof of the building, 4 avenue Henri Dunant, Plaine de Plainpalais in Geneva. The text of “ I dream of you “ should present the following ideas, imaginations an ...
I would like to install a neon writing work with the sentence; I dream of you on the roof of the building, 4 avenue Henri Dunant, Plaine de Plainpalais in Geneva. The text of “ I dream of you “ should present the following ideas, imaginations an ...
W5058
03.09.2012
Tabakalera - Taller Basico de Arquitectura [TBA]
WWW
Tabakalera (2008) LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE The trip Us astronomers, motivated by our curiosity and thirst of knowledge, we have design a capsule – the golden room- that will enable us to discover other realities. The great event takes place, finally, a ...
Tabakalera (2008) LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE The trip Us astronomers, motivated by our curiosity and thirst of knowledge, we have design a capsule – the golden room- that will enable us to discover other realities. The great event takes place, finally, a ...
W4634
25.05.2011
Working for the Revolution. - Romulo Banares
WWW
Working for the Revolution. This project consists in working for the Revolution, with small actions, small changes, words. All artists work in some kind of misunderstood revolution around some personal or collective utopia. Revolution is a work in prog ...
Working for the Revolution. This project consists in working for the Revolution, with small actions, small changes, words. All artists work in some kind of misunderstood revolution around some personal or collective utopia. Revolution is a work in prog ...
W10252
10.04.2014
Contact - Bastiaan Arler
WWW
In the summer of 1975 a fresh wind blew over the world. At a distance of 225 km, in orbit around the Earth, the USA and the USSR made contact as two spacecraft docked together in a sign of peace. In an instant it lightened the spirit of all of those caugh ...
In the summer of 1975 a fresh wind blew over the world. At a distance of 225 km, in orbit around the Earth, the USA and the USSR made contact as two spacecraft docked together in a sign of peace. In an instant it lightened the spirit of all of those caugh ...
W4210
24.05.2011
Way of the Closs - Branko Mejač
WWW
Presenting to you my nees project" Way of the Closs" which war taking shape from 1996 to 2003. Project was chosen for exhibition in a gallery "Family" in Ljubljana (Slovenia), but it was later turned down without any official explanation. Fourteen Stati ...
Presenting to you my nees project" Way of the Closs" which war taking shape from 1996 to 2003. Project was chosen for exhibition in a gallery "Family" in Ljubljana (Slovenia), but it was later turned down without any official explanation. Fourteen Stati ...
W4043
22.05.2011
THE LIVING WATER - Rodica A Miller
WWW
There have always been vanguardists, people with innovative ideas who opened new horizons and trends. For me, this is one of my unrealized projects for Art & Technology. As a subjective experience, my painting is an illusory world of colors, metaphors ...
There have always been vanguardists, people with innovative ideas who opened new horizons and trends. For me, this is one of my unrealized projects for Art & Technology. As a subjective experience, my painting is an illusory world of colors, metaphors ...
W10705
30.08.2014
space-in-between  - Ya-Wen Fu
WWW
I seek to discuss the issues about the definition of human body and the relationship between individual body and external surroundings in my artworks. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes: ”The human body inhabits in space; moreover, it itself is an expr ...
I seek to discuss the issues about the definition of human body and the relationship between individual body and external surroundings in my artworks. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes: ”The human body inhabits in space; moreover, it itself is an expr ...
U9874
01.01.1983
Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz
Unbuilt Roads
§79 Proceeding from this in 1983 Pitz negotiated with representatives of the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. The attitudine diplomatica project was intended to find out to what point the government was interested in admitting Pi ...
§79 Proceeding from this in 1983 Pitz negotiated with representatives of the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. The attitudine diplomatica project was intended to find out to what point the government was interested in admitting Pi ...
W10554
04.06.2014
Green Soundscape // Audio collage - Reference to the Arab revolution - Youssef Tabti
WWW
I. Collect recording in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) The project addresses the idea of Arabic cities landscape from an auditory perspective. I would like to collect a various audio sources on location to recreate a complex and subje ...
I. Collect recording in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) The project addresses the idea of Arabic cities landscape from an auditory perspective. I would like to collect a various audio sources on location to recreate a complex and subje ...
W3950
20.05.2011
GLASS WIND - Beatrice Crastini
WWW
Project presented to Basilea Committee, year 2008 Project GLASS WIND Starting from the sentence “in the electric technology’s regime, the duty of the man becomes that to learn and to know; all the forms of wealth derive from the move of inform ...
Project presented to Basilea Committee, year 2008 Project GLASS WIND Starting from the sentence “in the electric technology’s regime, the duty of the man becomes that to learn and to know; all the forms of wealth derive from the move of inform ...