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.

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

Tulips for Amsterdam - Isa Genzken

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Douglas Gordon - 5 year drive-by; proposal for a public artwork.

WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum

The World Record - General Idea

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3726
17.05.2011
Time Share - Elizabeth Rywelski
WWW
TIME SHARE is a performance and a play on a consumer model within a time share sales experience as seen through basic design principles of the Alternate Reality Game and the basic principles of Consumer Theory. In TIME SHARE we will look at how in an Alte ...
TIME SHARE is a performance and a play on a consumer model within a time share sales experience as seen through basic design principles of the Alternate Reality Game and the basic principles of Consumer Theory. In TIME SHARE we will look at how in an Alte ...
W5312
17.10.2012
Empire - Elena Dubrova
WWW
We would like to introduce to Your attention our short non embodied project. The project itself can be incarnate but his idea is reverse. We named it ‘Empire’. Project consist series of photo ( 5 pieces) and 1 gif. image. It consists awareness, ...
We would like to introduce to Your attention our short non embodied project. The project itself can be incarnate but his idea is reverse. We named it ‘Empire’. Project consist series of photo ( 5 pieces) and 1 gif. image. It consists awareness, ...
W4051
22.05.2011
stoop - leo Morrissey
WWW
stoop; concept inspired by the tradition of sitting on the front steps of homes and talking with neighbors that I experienced growing up in a row home in Philadelphia. I proposal to build a stoop: Approximately 64” high House shaped bench with two s ...
stoop; concept inspired by the tradition of sitting on the front steps of homes and talking with neighbors that I experienced growing up in a row home in Philadelphia. I proposal to build a stoop: Approximately 64” high House shaped bench with two s ...
W3920
20.05.2011
Sameena Azam
WWW
The idealization of a perceived space is explored through the use of fluid materials. Materials of a liquid consistency have ‘no fixed shape and yield to external pressure’. The use of such materials has enabled for movement to be captured. ...
The idealization of a perceived space is explored through the use of fluid materials. Materials of a liquid consistency have ‘no fixed shape and yield to external pressure’. The use of such materials has enabled for movement to be captured. ...
U9913
01.01.1974
654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha
Unbuilt Roads
This was a proposal for the Defense Urban Development area in the city of Paris. The work, which takes on the appearance of a monument, would consist of stone or marble plates, bolted together to create a weather proof box-shaped container, housing shelve ...
This was a proposal for the Defense Urban Development area in the city of Paris. The work, which takes on the appearance of a monument, would consist of stone or marble plates, bolted together to create a weather proof box-shaped container, housing shelve ...
W4608
25.05.2011
jeffrey schiff
WWW
W4479
25.05.2011
Hösl&Mihaljevic
WWW
Project: To print a whole issue of a newspaper, for example Sueddeutsche Zeitung, twice: First time only the pictures. Second time only the words. ...
Project: To print a whole issue of a newspaper, for example Sueddeutsche Zeitung, twice: First time only the pictures. Second time only the words. ...
W3963
21.05.2011
LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP - Agnes Bolt
WWW
Long Distance Relationship For the exhibition, I am proposing to run a series of 100ft long connected extension cords powered from my studio (the creative place of production) to the exhibition space 2.2 miles away. The energy it takes to sustain so ...
Long Distance Relationship For the exhibition, I am proposing to run a series of 100ft long connected extension cords powered from my studio (the creative place of production) to the exhibition space 2.2 miles away. The energy it takes to sustain so ...
W5901
18.10.2013
Fountain - Matthijs Muller
WWW
An anti-romantic fountain that, on one hand comments the manmade landscape of a park, while on the other hand romanticizing heavy machinery. 2011 ...
An anti-romantic fountain that, on one hand comments the manmade landscape of a park, while on the other hand romanticizing heavy machinery. 2011 ...
W3997
21.05.2011
Survival is a Crime - Jana Leo De Blas
WWW
S.I.C. "Survival is a Crime" is a picture sequence that draws a trajectory through an apartment building, the staircase, the hallways, the inside of the apartment, the furniture, some objects, a comforter, and inside the inhabitant, a woman. The total ...
S.I.C. "Survival is a Crime" is a picture sequence that draws a trajectory through an apartment building, the staircase, the hallways, the inside of the apartment, the furniture, some objects, a comforter, and inside the inhabitant, a woman. The total ...
W3608
13.05.2011
Jenny E. Balisle
WWW
My art begins with a mark or line inspired by patterns found in natural or manmade environments. My pen and ink drawings explore repetitions of line and organic forms, investigating the simplicity and complexity of gestures, marks, lines, and textures. ...
My art begins with a mark or line inspired by patterns found in natural or manmade environments. My pen and ink drawings explore repetitions of line and organic forms, investigating the simplicity and complexity of gestures, marks, lines, and textures. ...
W3957
20.05.2011
Chain Link Fence - Michael Arata
WWW
Chain Link Fence(space between) Graphite and paint on diamond shapes made of styrofoam and masking tape. The Chain Link Fence project represents the negative space between the wires that make up the steel fence material. The diamond shapes are some tim ...
Chain Link Fence(space between) Graphite and paint on diamond shapes made of styrofoam and masking tape. The Chain Link Fence project represents the negative space between the wires that make up the steel fence material. The diamond shapes are some tim ...
W3982
21.05.2011
Kay Malek
WWW
This is a singular state of a project that will never be finished. ...
This is a singular state of a project that will never be finished. ...
W4225
24.05.2011
Climbing the Devil's table / the Daredevil - Romain Sein
WWW
Climbing the Devil's table / the Daredevil (approximatively traduced from french) Climbing the Devil's table is an unrealized project but it's not unrealizable. «The Teufelstisch», the devil table, is a spectacular sandstone from the region of ...
Climbing the Devil's table / the Daredevil (approximatively traduced from french) Climbing the Devil's table is an unrealized project but it's not unrealizable. «The Teufelstisch», the devil table, is a spectacular sandstone from the region of ...
W4467
25.05.2011
ExpErimEnts and obsErvations - hanna husberg
WWW
ExpErimEnts and obsErvations on diffErEnt kinds of air The project introduces a canalization of tubes with inhalers connected to N2O gas tanks at some public spaces as the auditorium of a theatre or a metro train. Experiments and observations on differe ...
ExpErimEnts and obsErvations on diffErEnt kinds of air The project introduces a canalization of tubes with inhalers connected to N2O gas tanks at some public spaces as the auditorium of a theatre or a metro train. Experiments and observations on differe ...
W3756
18.05.2011
Mevagissey Old Fishermen - Venessa Lagrand
WWW
Mevagissey Old Fishermen is a panel of 40 hand painted ceramic tiles (each tile 15 x 15 cm) reproduction of an old photograph - with artistic licence - of a scene of a small harbour in Cornwall GB around 1900 - see image attached and on www.artmajeur.com/ ...
Mevagissey Old Fishermen is a panel of 40 hand painted ceramic tiles (each tile 15 x 15 cm) reproduction of an old photograph - with artistic licence - of a scene of a small harbour in Cornwall GB around 1900 - see image attached and on www.artmajeur.com/ ...
W4918
16.08.2012
Elections are a Con ("Wahlen sind Betrug") - Oliver Ressler
WWW
“Elections are a Con” ("Wahlen sind Betrug"), series of posters to be displayed in Innsbruck (Austria); unrealized due to censorship by the provincial government of Tyrol, 2011 “Elections are a Con” – Censorship by the provincial government ...
“Elections are a Con” ("Wahlen sind Betrug"), series of posters to be displayed in Innsbruck (Austria); unrealized due to censorship by the provincial government of Tyrol, 2011 “Elections are a Con” – Censorship by the provincial government ...
W5464
21.10.2012
Electron Self-Portrait - Lauren Jo
WWW
An electron microscope uses a beam of electrons to illuminate a specimen and produce a magnified image. In particular, a scanning electron microscope shoots focused electron beams that rather than carrying an image itself back to the lens, probes the spec ...
An electron microscope uses a beam of electrons to illuminate a specimen and produce a magnified image. In particular, a scanning electron microscope shoots focused electron beams that rather than carrying an image itself back to the lens, probes the spec ...
W4501
25.05.2011
My Modern Life
WWW
My Modern Life _ text The project shows the search of young Latvians for indivudual aims, wishes, planes, freedom and others – in Latvian, English, German and Russian. It is an interdisciplinary project of film, photography and interverntion i ...
My Modern Life _ text The project shows the search of young Latvians for indivudual aims, wishes, planes, freedom and others – in Latvian, English, German and Russian. It is an interdisciplinary project of film, photography and interverntion i ...
W4451
25.05.2011
God Only Knows - Declan Rooney
WWW
God Only Knows Concept: Inside a sand pit and framed from behind by a blue wooden wall, I will dig my hands and feet into Dublin sand, collecting mounds of the material. Then I will elevate both hands and feet above the ground, attempting to hold this a ...
God Only Knows Concept: Inside a sand pit and framed from behind by a blue wooden wall, I will dig my hands and feet into Dublin sand, collecting mounds of the material. Then I will elevate both hands and feet above the ground, attempting to hold this a ...
W4956
20.08.2012
Carpet Bombing- Iraqi Markets - Eugene Soler
WWW
Since the war in Iraq 2001 and the ousting of the Iraqi goverment in 2002-2003, we have witnessed the vast amount of insurgents who have used 'terror' as their main weapon. By attacking and bombing gathering places and large crowds, terrorists can inflict ...
Since the war in Iraq 2001 and the ousting of the Iraqi goverment in 2002-2003, we have witnessed the vast amount of insurgents who have used 'terror' as their main weapon. By attacking and bombing gathering places and large crowds, terrorists can inflict ...
W4250
24.05.2011
sara stites
WWW
I started these continuous drawings on paper and would like to realize the flow of life's continuum that these represent in a space either outside or in with vast walls so that they could interact with the architecture to fulfill the concept of a never-e ...
I started these continuous drawings on paper and would like to realize the flow of life's continuum that these represent in a space either outside or in with vast walls so that they could interact with the architecture to fulfill the concept of a never-e ...
W4346
24.05.2011
Sane Jung
WWW
Through my art, I can go fishing, I can eat burgers, I can play with balls, I can go to the sea and go to mountain. I can meet people and talk to people, I can see the sky and I can see the moon. How gorgeous it is and what a wonderful, exciting privilege ...
Through my art, I can go fishing, I can eat burgers, I can play with balls, I can go to the sea and go to mountain. I can meet people and talk to people, I can see the sky and I can see the moon. How gorgeous it is and what a wonderful, exciting privilege ...
W10692
18.08.2014
Black Dust - Geraldine Bloch
WWW
an international exhibition about petrol and power. with big and black and gold artworks. curatorial project of Geraldine Bloch ...
an international exhibition about petrol and power. with big and black and gold artworks. curatorial project of Geraldine Bloch ...
W3938
20.05.2011
LETTER OF INTEREST for “Art Mediator” - Verina Gfader
WWW
The attached letter bears witness to a mail exchange following the Manifesta 8 (in the region of Murcia, Spain) announcement and job vacancies within education there. The proposal tries to create a space of uncertainty for the Manifesta organisers. ...
The attached letter bears witness to a mail exchange following the Manifesta 8 (in the region of Murcia, Spain) announcement and job vacancies within education there. The proposal tries to create a space of uncertainty for the Manifesta organisers. ...
W3542
12.05.2011
Nathan Danilowicz
WWW
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...