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.

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

den anonymen Tod ausstellen - Gregor Schneider

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Unrealized Turtles 1967 - Joseph Grigely

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

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5092
11.09.2012
seductive against the grain - Harald Schole
WWW
¿Station at odds? Research and proposals for the South-Axis, Amsterdam The development of the great public transit stations of the present century can be compared to development processes of large urban complexes. The station area of the future will i ...
¿Station at odds? Research and proposals for the South-Axis, Amsterdam The development of the great public transit stations of the present century can be compared to development processes of large urban complexes. The station area of the future will i ...
W4074
23.05.2011
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) - Maarten van der Heijden (@Maarten141BOXES)
WWW
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) Introduction @Maarten141BOXES is a Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress. It is an egodocument: an autobiographi ...
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) Introduction @Maarten141BOXES is a Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress. It is an egodocument: an autobiographi ...
W10709
05.09.2014
Terminator – Final proposal to the Jerwood Foundation 2008 - Jonathan Parsons
WWW
This proposal was made following the Foundation’s invitation to produce this work. Unfortunately the project was eventually halted due to a lack of funds. Introduction Making Terminator into a substantial, powerful artwork necessitates a development ...
This proposal was made following the Foundation’s invitation to produce this work. Unfortunately the project was eventually halted due to a lack of funds. Introduction Making Terminator into a substantial, powerful artwork necessitates a development ...
W3497
11.05.2011
Labyrinths - Ruben Gutierrez
WWW
Life Size Mazes to be displayed in a public area. Structures where our demons can be confronted and overcome http://www.rubengutierrez.net/project/13-labyrinths ...
Life Size Mazes to be displayed in a public area. Structures where our demons can be confronted and overcome http://www.rubengutierrez.net/project/13-labyrinths ...
W4340
24.05.2011
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? - Cristina Cambiganu
WWW
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? The idea, which has been in my drawer of dreams for over 10 years, intend to insert a graft on the saxophone. Precisely, the project intended to r ...
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? The idea, which has been in my drawer of dreams for over 10 years, intend to insert a graft on the saxophone. Precisely, the project intended to r ...
W4669
25.05.2011
IPIRANGA  - Balam Bartolomé
WWW
IPIRANGA A project by Balam Bartolomé Porfirio Díaz was the president of Mexico for over 30 years. He was overthrew by the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and sent to exile in France. During his dictatorship, in 1904, the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Ar ...
IPIRANGA A project by Balam Bartolomé Porfirio Díaz was the president of Mexico for over 30 years. He was overthrew by the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and sent to exile in France. During his dictatorship, in 1904, the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Ar ...
W3592
13.05.2011
ROTTEN SHARKS - paololuca barbieri
WWW
This Film is never been made but it has a phantom on the web at: www.rottensharks.com by Alterazioni Video EXT- NORDIC SEA – SUNDOWN A former fisherman’s boat, now just a dingy filled with a crew of desperados, is roaming along the cold ...
This Film is never been made but it has a phantom on the web at: www.rottensharks.com by Alterazioni Video EXT- NORDIC SEA – SUNDOWN A former fisherman’s boat, now just a dingy filled with a crew of desperados, is roaming along the cold ...
W3983
21.05.2011
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come - Panajachel Biennial
WWW
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 convened in Panajachel in 2009. The result of this meeting was a p ...
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 convened in Panajachel in 2009. The result of this meeting was a p ...
W4541
25.05.2011
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME”  - Maria Dundakova
WWW
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME” The central theme of the Biennale Sao Paulo was “The Holistic Global Tendencies of Humankind at the End of the 20th Century”. Based on the personal invitation of the jury of the Biennale, I further developed the pro ...
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME” The central theme of the Biennale Sao Paulo was “The Holistic Global Tendencies of Humankind at the End of the 20th Century”. Based on the personal invitation of the jury of the Biennale, I further developed the pro ...
W3514
11.05.2011
“Future Show”  - Alexandra Hopf
WWW
“Future Show” is an ongoing investigation into objects of art that have vanished from the field of vision.  These objects were once housed within the original Future Show in the New York's Museum of Non-Objective Art from November to December of 1 ...
“Future Show” is an ongoing investigation into objects of art that have vanished from the field of vision.  These objects were once housed within the original Future Show in the New York's Museum of Non-Objective Art from November to December of 1 ...
W4691
26.05.2011
ZOE MACKLER
WWW
George W. Bush Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity ...
George W. Bush Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity ...
W5012
30.08.2012
Stalactite Machine - Karen Lofgren
WWW
Stalactite Machine is an unrealized mechanical sculpture that was prototyped 3 times in metal and in wood over two years before being laid to rest. Karen Lofgren: Unrealized Art Project: Stalactite Machine Stalactite Machine is a sculpture that bui ...
Stalactite Machine is an unrealized mechanical sculpture that was prototyped 3 times in metal and in wood over two years before being laid to rest. Karen Lofgren: Unrealized Art Project: Stalactite Machine Stalactite Machine is a sculpture that bui ...
W4171
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 ...
U9869
01.01.1997
"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto
Unbuilt Roads
Large cage of iron rods without any entrance. A tag is fastened, outside, in the middle of each of the four sides, saying "The Free Space". "Free Space" From the book "100 exhibitions in the month of October" 1976; Recipe n. 90 Pistoletto ...
Large cage of iron rods without any entrance. A tag is fastened, outside, in the middle of each of the four sides, saying "The Free Space". "Free Space" From the book "100 exhibitions in the month of October" 1976; Recipe n. 90 Pistoletto ...
W4083
23.05.2011
The Queen’s Sconce - Anna Walker
WWW
The Queen’s Sconce brief: to enhance the new Queen’s Sconce bridge, which was installed in summer 2010. The commission - to respond to the new bridge, the setting, Civil War History and the story of the Sconce itself. The existing design takes its ins ...
The Queen’s Sconce brief: to enhance the new Queen’s Sconce bridge, which was installed in summer 2010. The commission - to respond to the new bridge, the setting, Civil War History and the story of the Sconce itself. The existing design takes its ins ...
W5412
20.10.2012
THE ISLAND PROJECT - Pietro Mele
WWW
PIETRO MELE The Island Project Multimedia project I am going to start a campaign of fund raising so as to purchase the private Island of Budelli* for giving it to the Sardinian Government. Despite the island is part of the highly protected La Madda ...
PIETRO MELE The Island Project Multimedia project I am going to start a campaign of fund raising so as to purchase the private Island of Budelli* for giving it to the Sardinian Government. Despite the island is part of the highly protected La Madda ...
W5141
21.09.2012
arrays - Steffen Kasperavicius
WWW
ARRAYS „Heutzutage ist kaum etwas realistischer als Utopien“ (Thornton Wilder, 1887-1975) Als diplomierter Medienkünstler interessiere ich mich bereits seit mehreren Jahren für die MinimalArt- und ConceptualArt-Tendenzen der 60er und 70er Jahre. I ...
ARRAYS „Heutzutage ist kaum etwas realistischer als Utopien“ (Thornton Wilder, 1887-1975) Als diplomierter Medienkünstler interessiere ich mich bereits seit mehreren Jahren für die MinimalArt- und ConceptualArt-Tendenzen der 60er und 70er Jahre. I ...
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 ...
W4076
23.05.2011
Reuniting ‘Between You & I - Sara Brannan
WWW
In 2007 Anthony McCall produced a limited edition number of prints (150) to coincide with his exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London. What I’d like to do in this work is try to reunite as many as possible of the prints to be exhibited togethe ...
In 2007 Anthony McCall produced a limited edition number of prints (150) to coincide with his exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London. What I’d like to do in this work is try to reunite as many as possible of the prints to be exhibited togethe ...
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. ...
D10803
09.09.2012
Untitled  - Theo Eshetu
DAAD
W4279
24.05.2011
"Mr. Quixote"  - AGGTELEK
WWW
Monument of 50 meters high rehearsing a new "Don Quixote" titled "Mr. Quixote". "Mr. Quixote" tells the story of the adventures of Mr. Quixote through the 21st century through the vision of a geek. ...
Monument of 50 meters high rehearsing a new "Don Quixote" titled "Mr. Quixote". "Mr. Quixote" tells the story of the adventures of Mr. Quixote through the 21st century through the vision of a geek. ...
W4598
25.05.2011
Fitting Through A Hole - Michael Arata
WWW
Fitting Through A Hole The work allows the viewer to interpret the larger form as penetrating the hole in the lid of a five gallon paint bucket or alternately being secreted into the bucket. Michael Arata, 2004 ...
Fitting Through A Hole The work allows the viewer to interpret the larger form as penetrating the hole in the lid of a five gallon paint bucket or alternately being secreted into the bucket. Michael Arata, 2004 ...
W4606
25.05.2011
“LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE” - Maria Dundakova
WWW
MARIA DUNDAKOVA © PROJECT “LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE”- SOLSTICE Theme: Art and Environment. Landscape interacting between natural event and social event 1995 Luxembourg, European Capital of Culture, Valley of the Corn ...
MARIA DUNDAKOVA © PROJECT “LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE”- SOLSTICE Theme: Art and Environment. Landscape interacting between natural event and social event 1995 Luxembourg, European Capital of Culture, Valley of the Corn ...
W3702
17.05.2011
The Ninth Circle of Obsession - the project for group exhibition - Izabela Ołdak
WWW
Obsession is a mental state, the inability to free yourself from intrusive thoughts, images, or from performing the same actions. Obsession is also a type of anxiety disorder, reflected by the presence of irrational thoughts and impulses, which are accom ...
Obsession is a mental state, the inability to free yourself from intrusive thoughts, images, or from performing the same actions. Obsession is also a type of anxiety disorder, reflected by the presence of irrational thoughts and impulses, which are accom ...
U9673
01.05.1981
WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum
Unbuilt Roads
Extracts from an unpublished interview with Michael Archer for Phaidon press: ...Around the same period I made a proposal for the New Contemporaries exhibition which was going to be held at the ICA. In those days the toilets were on either side of the ...
Extracts from an unpublished interview with Michael Archer for Phaidon press: ...Around the same period I made a proposal for the New Contemporaries exhibition which was going to be held at the ICA. In those days the toilets were on either side of the ...