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

The pyramids...to be seen to be believed - Jonathan Monk

To Two Too; Hypothetical Monument for a Natural Disaster - Jeffrey Wisniewski

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

A FAIRLY TALL TOWER, 48,000 Miles High -  - Siah Armajani

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

The World Record - General Idea

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
W4156
23.05.2011
Craig Havens
WWW
From August 2009 to January 2010, I employed the spirit of Elvis Presely as the PR Director of a Limited Liability Company which I created to represent my groin to those people who were no longer welcome in my life. ...
From August 2009 to January 2010, I employed the spirit of Elvis Presely as the PR Director of a Limited Liability Company which I created to represent my groin to those people who were no longer welcome in my life. ...
W3704
17.05.2011
Making Aliyah - Nathaniel Katz and Valentina Curandi
WWW
We are proposing to immigrate to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. The concept of this proposal derives from the implied duty of Jews in diaspora to immigrate, make “Aliyah” to the State of Israel. (Literally “Aliyah” means ascension. To mak ...
We are proposing to immigrate to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. The concept of this proposal derives from the implied duty of Jews in diaspora to immigrate, make “Aliyah” to the State of Israel. (Literally “Aliyah” means ascension. To mak ...
W4324
24.05.2011
Whisper – Murmur – Howl  - Mitya Nesterov
WWW
Whisper – Murmur – Howl Installation Project Framework It all started a few years ago when I came across several sculptured heads lying down all messy in a back yard of an art college my ex-wife attended, just like scraps of junk. I photograp ...
Whisper – Murmur – Howl Installation Project Framework It all started a few years ago when I came across several sculptured heads lying down all messy in a back yard of an art college my ex-wife attended, just like scraps of junk. I photograp ...
W4276
24.05.2011
Proposal for the New Jersey State Aquarium - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
Proposal for the New Jersey State Aquarium Camden, New Jersey ...
Proposal for the New Jersey State Aquarium Camden, New Jersey ...
W4364
25.05.2011
AUTOPOIETIC AMALGAMATE  - Brandon Walls Olsen
WWW
AUTOPOIETIC AMALGAMATE (ALL OF THE “ART” DISTILLED INTO A FORM-FUL PILE AND EMPTIED ITSELF OF EXCESS, FINALLY): [Self-Portrait as Utility (Blades); EVERYTHING-NOTHING: Everything (The Big Oil [Low Light]), Nothing (Faux-Earth [High Light]), Primary an ...
AUTOPOIETIC AMALGAMATE (ALL OF THE “ART” DISTILLED INTO A FORM-FUL PILE AND EMPTIED ITSELF OF EXCESS, FINALLY): [Self-Portrait as Utility (Blades); EVERYTHING-NOTHING: Everything (The Big Oil [Low Light]), Nothing (Faux-Earth [High Light]), Primary an ...
W4912
14.08.2012
Kiarash Alimi
WWW
An artwork for a better understanding of the necessity of Arab-Israeli peace. This artwork is based on the metonymic nature of the hebrew word eretz meaning land, soil and ground. Land that is for israelites to take back with bloody wars against other ...
An artwork for a better understanding of the necessity of Arab-Israeli peace. This artwork is based on the metonymic nature of the hebrew word eretz meaning land, soil and ground. Land that is for israelites to take back with bloody wars against other ...
W3635
14.05.2011
Hay, Text - Jomar Statkun
WWW
“With plastic covered hay bales”, the hay bales have text silk screened on them. There would be many bales - with various texts printed on them. In the past, some texts have touched on ideas of defection and the workings of “offices”, as well a ...
“With plastic covered hay bales”, the hay bales have text silk screened on them. There would be many bales - with various texts printed on them. In the past, some texts have touched on ideas of defection and the workings of “offices”, as well a ...
W3533
11.05.2011
The Pagoda - Michael Jantzen
WWW
Would be made from sustainably grown Western Red Cedar wood. Approximately twenty one feet wide, fifteen feet deep, and eighteen feet tall. ...
Would be made from sustainably grown Western Red Cedar wood. Approximately twenty one feet wide, fifteen feet deep, and eighteen feet tall. ...
W5126
18.09.2012
Porn I (Zootropo - Juan Alvarez-Durán
WWW
Porn (Part One) ‐ Zoetrope Continually subvert the function of the machine Nan Yun Paik There is a natural sense of the world, but those ways that men have given their perceptions. Jean Mitry The dictionary defines zoetrope. (Zoo‐and gr. Τρόπος ...
Porn (Part One) ‐ Zoetrope Continually subvert the function of the machine Nan Yun Paik There is a natural sense of the world, but those ways that men have given their perceptions. Jean Mitry The dictionary defines zoetrope. (Zoo‐and gr. Τρόπος ...
W3773
18.05.2011
MEMORY OF AN UTOPIA Graphic Novel of the Popular Government in Chile, 1970-1973 - Luis Guerra
WWW
Introduction During 2003 and 2004, I was working at the The National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture Report, the Valech Commission, a Governmental institution created by former President Ricardo Lagos. My work at the Commission consist ...
Introduction During 2003 and 2004, I was working at the The National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture Report, the Valech Commission, a Governmental institution created by former President Ricardo Lagos. My work at the Commission consist ...
W5134
19.09.2012
Full Tr, Full Rf : The body posthuman, vol.1  - Mustafa Kemal Yurttas
WWW
The project proposal “Full Tr, Full Rf : The body posthuman, vol.1” highlightens the key concepts of identity, desire, simulation, cyborg through the materiality and immateriality of transformation, transition, transparency, transposition, trace a ...
The project proposal “Full Tr, Full Rf : The body posthuman, vol.1” highlightens the key concepts of identity, desire, simulation, cyborg through the materiality and immateriality of transformation, transition, transparency, transposition, trace a ...
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 ...
W3764
18.05.2011
The Children of the Divine Understanding of All (1914-?): Documentation of a Forgotten Religion - Kevin Swenson
WWW
NEW COMERS Welcome, and do not be nervous, for you will soon broaden your understandings on every aspect of this life you have been given. Children of All do things very differently. We do not focus or dwell upon the wrong things we have done; instead, w ...
NEW COMERS Welcome, and do not be nervous, for you will soon broaden your understandings on every aspect of this life you have been given. Children of All do things very differently. We do not focus or dwell upon the wrong things we have done; instead, w ...
W3813
19.05.2011
Bruce Gray
WWW
This is a wood sphere that I drilled into and mounted lots of high powered rare earth magnets. They are all facing the magnetic polarity in the same direction. There was also a large half sphere that I attached magnets with the polarity opposing the sph ...
This is a wood sphere that I drilled into and mounted lots of high powered rare earth magnets. They are all facing the magnetic polarity in the same direction. There was also a large half sphere that I attached magnets with the polarity opposing the sph ...
W4987
28.08.2012
Iranian Modernity during Qajar period - Reza Afhami, Farinaz Farbod
WWW
Iranian Modernity during Qajar period During Qajar period, Iran starts the modernity and attention to Europe as an pattern of development. This series of digital photo arts tries to show the various aspects of Iranian modernity through the combination ...
Iranian Modernity during Qajar period During Qajar period, Iran starts the modernity and attention to Europe as an pattern of development. This series of digital photo arts tries to show the various aspects of Iranian modernity through the combination ...
W5457
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING V: “LOST” (A Porcelain Landscape Room) - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING V: “LOST” (A Porcelain Landscape Room) Part of a larger project "Looking for the Labyrinth: Re-collecting Versailles". Cast white porcelain, sculptural walls, total size approximately 16 feet x 12 ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING V: “LOST” (A Porcelain Landscape Room) Part of a larger project "Looking for the Labyrinth: Re-collecting Versailles". Cast white porcelain, sculptural walls, total size approximately 16 feet x 12 ...
W5160
24.09.2012
See-Throughs - Anton Savov and Barak Reiser
WWW
SEE-THROUGHS A project proposal by Anton Savov and Barak Reiser Frankfurt, 2011 See-Throughs is a proposal for a pavilion to be situated on a square in a metropolitan location during the winter months - a time when the city’s open-air spaces are ...
SEE-THROUGHS A project proposal by Anton Savov and Barak Reiser Frankfurt, 2011 See-Throughs is a proposal for a pavilion to be situated on a square in a metropolitan location during the winter months - a time when the city’s open-air spaces are ...
U9877
01.01.1989
Projekt für die Landschaft des Mont-de-Sene (Burgund) im Rahmen eines öffentlichen Auftrags des französischen Kultusministeriums - Markus Raetz
Unbuilt Roads
Das Projekt bestand aus der Aushöhlung einer Felswand und einer in den Fels gehauenen Treppe, die zu ihr hin führte. ...
Das Projekt bestand aus der Aushöhlung einer Felswand und einer in den Fels gehauenen Treppe, die zu ihr hin führte. ...
W3853
19.05.2011
Identity Correlations - Yu-Hang Huang
WWW
“Identity Correlations” is a series of documentaries of my journey while wearing various houses in different environments and searching for a place to fit in. ...
“Identity Correlations” is a series of documentaries of my journey while wearing various houses in different environments and searching for a place to fit in. ...
W5159
24.09.2012
The DECISION is yours - Taša Turk
WWW
»The DECISION is yours« »The DECISION is yours« is an unrealized project. The idea was created in 2009 as a response to what was happening in society and on the planet. The main thought of the project was to remind the observer of how important a ...
»The DECISION is yours« »The DECISION is yours« is an unrealized project. The idea was created in 2009 as a response to what was happening in society and on the planet. The main thought of the project was to remind the observer of how important a ...
W5117
17.09.2012
Cliff Dwelling - Adam Kuby
WWW
Proposal for a sculpture that provides nesting habitat for peregrine falcons in a skyscraper. Adam Kuby, Artis t adam@adamkuby.com www.adamkuby.com 7019 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97215 (503) 752-5241 Call for Unrealized Projects Submission Cliff ...
Proposal for a sculpture that provides nesting habitat for peregrine falcons in a skyscraper. Adam Kuby, Artis t adam@adamkuby.com www.adamkuby.com 7019 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97215 (503) 752-5241 Call for Unrealized Projects Submission Cliff ...
W3981
21.05.2011
Stuart Keeler
WWW
Aurora is a sculptural work that connects the citizen to the street with seating, lighting and sculptural forms. The work offers daytime and nighttime animation with a sculptural gesture of the familiar forms. Powered by a series of low wattage LED light ...
Aurora is a sculptural work that connects the citizen to the street with seating, lighting and sculptural forms. The work offers daytime and nighttime animation with a sculptural gesture of the familiar forms. Powered by a series of low wattage LED light ...
W4468
25.05.2011
Bürger Schöpfung Ewigkeit  - Gabriele Juvan
WWW
Bürger Schöpfung Ewigkeit (i.e. Citizen Creation Eternity) is a site specific, temporary project conceived for ,Luisenburg‘ rock labyrinth (Felsenlabyrinth) next to the city of Wunsiedel on the German/Czech border: *Six eye-catching rocks on a loop tr ...
Bürger Schöpfung Ewigkeit (i.e. Citizen Creation Eternity) is a site specific, temporary project conceived for ,Luisenburg‘ rock labyrinth (Felsenlabyrinth) next to the city of Wunsiedel on the German/Czech border: *Six eye-catching rocks on a loop tr ...
W4224
24.05.2011
The Hand of God - Magnus Monfeldt
WWW
The Hand of God This unrealized art project from 2005 involves casting the left hand of Escolastico Berto Mendez; a famous Diego Maradona look-a-like who has sacrificed his own identity to make a living being photographed around Buenos Aires suburb La ...
The Hand of God This unrealized art project from 2005 involves casting the left hand of Escolastico Berto Mendez; a famous Diego Maradona look-a-like who has sacrificed his own identity to make a living being photographed around Buenos Aires suburb La ...
W4735
26.05.2011
Swans - Wiebke Maria Wachmann
WWW
W4725
26.05.2011
Billy Apple
WWW
Billy Apple Unrealised Project: To reinstate Frank Lloyd Wright’s door The Guggenheim Museum, New York The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum is signed on the outside in a square red tile with the architect’s initials, FLW. It came to my attention in t ...
Billy Apple Unrealised Project: To reinstate Frank Lloyd Wright’s door The Guggenheim Museum, New York The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum is signed on the outside in a square red tile with the architect’s initials, FLW. It came to my attention in t ...