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.

Unrealized Projects - Jonas Meckas

d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. - Christian Boltanski

The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois

Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

Uncompleted 1966 - and on  - John Armleder

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Broadway Musicals - Christian Marclay

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4800
20.01.2012
Turf - IDADA Art Pavilion - Jeremy Tubbs
WWW
Turf - IDADA Art Pavilion Super Bowl weekend will coincide with the IDADA First Friday Art Tour on Friday February 3rd. The Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association (IDADA) are hosting a unique, visual arts event and pavilion in downtown Ind ...
Turf - IDADA Art Pavilion Super Bowl weekend will coincide with the IDADA First Friday Art Tour on Friday February 3rd. The Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association (IDADA) are hosting a unique, visual arts event and pavilion in downtown Ind ...
W4405
25.05.2011
John Gayer
WWW
The Church of Aesthetic Psychology. The is merely the title of an idea that came up in the mid-1980s when tele-evangelists such as Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart were active. The idea was to better people's lives through art and design. ...
The Church of Aesthetic Psychology. The is merely the title of an idea that came up in the mid-1980s when tele-evangelists such as Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart were active. The idea was to better people's lives through art and design. ...
W3835
19.05.2011
‘Jsut Code - Winnie Soon
WWW
‘Jsut Code’ is a collaborative installation in which participants are invited to decode electronic texts written by a collective of distributed writers. ...
‘Jsut Code’ is a collaborative installation in which participants are invited to decode electronic texts written by a collective of distributed writers. ...
W10895
23.03.2015
The Great Wall Archive - The Bureau for Transgressive Tourism and the Acquisition of its Archives
WWW
The Great Wall Archive presents many potential narratives through the collection and exhibition of an excess of specific and seemingly arbitrary information. Its conception was spurred by a curiosity in the ways we communicate with one another, specifical ...
The Great Wall Archive presents many potential narratives through the collection and exhibition of an excess of specific and seemingly arbitrary information. Its conception was spurred by a curiosity in the ways we communicate with one another, specifical ...
W3671
15.05.2011
Before The Gates Of Our Vacant Future - Joseph Shaeffer
WWW
Project initially proposed for the Garage Center For Contemporary Culture in Moscow, Russia which is housed in the historic Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage designed by Konstantin Melnikov in 1926. “Before the gates of our vacant future.” Thus reads the ope ...
Project initially proposed for the Garage Center For Contemporary Culture in Moscow, Russia which is housed in the historic Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage designed by Konstantin Melnikov in 1926. “Before the gates of our vacant future.” Thus reads the ope ...
W7067
24.11.2013
Ardfert “Miracle Hill”  - Julie Forrester
WWW
THEMES The theme will be Ardfert “Miracle Hill”. Ideas about miracles will be explored playfully by posing questions: What exactly is a miracle? Do you know any miracles? Are miracles real? Do we need them? Who are the people who inhabit miracles? ...
THEMES The theme will be Ardfert “Miracle Hill”. Ideas about miracles will be explored playfully by posing questions: What exactly is a miracle? Do you know any miracles? Are miracles real? Do we need them? Who are the people who inhabit miracles? ...
U9726
01.01.1971
KEEPING IN TOUCH - Allan Kaprow
Unbuilt Roads
A global network of simultaneously transmitting and receiving " TV Arcades." Open to the public twenty-four hours a day, like any washerette. An arcade in every big city of the world. Each equipped with a hundred or more monitors of different sizes from a ...
A global network of simultaneously transmitting and receiving " TV Arcades." Open to the public twenty-four hours a day, like any washerette. An arcade in every big city of the world. Each equipped with a hundred or more monitors of different sizes from a ...
W3691
16.05.2011
Rolf Hinterecker
WWW
The train will be fixed in a steal frame construction Most of the complex construction is placed under the water surface. Counterbalances in the cube are needed for the balance. Several boom supports floating short above the ground will protect an overset ...
The train will be fixed in a steal frame construction Most of the complex construction is placed under the water surface. Counterbalances in the cube are needed for the balance. Several boom supports floating short above the ground will protect an overset ...
W4215
24.05.2011
Book-less library – The Transfiguration - Will Foster
WWW
Book-less library – The Transfiguration Locate a public library. Enquire into the amount of books the library holds and how many books can be loaned at one time per person. Calculate how many people would be needed to empty the library. ...
Book-less library – The Transfiguration Locate a public library. Enquire into the amount of books the library holds and how many books can be loaned at one time per person. Calculate how many people would be needed to empty the library. ...
W4903
13.08.2012
Round Table - Raoul Marek
WWW
The “freedom and democracy monument” is designed in the shape of an oversized transparent round table: People make use of the elements of that round table by their presence and help bring life into it.The round table is the symbol of the democratic id ...
The “freedom and democracy monument” is designed in the shape of an oversized transparent round table: People make use of the elements of that round table by their presence and help bring life into it.The round table is the symbol of the democratic id ...
W3748
18.05.2011
SPOT ON - John Gayer
WWW
Proposed in 2009, SPOT ON could be described as participatory pointillism. My idea was relatively simple. It involved making stamping materials (circular rubber stamps + ink/paint pads in a range of colours) available to viewers so that each could contrib ...
Proposed in 2009, SPOT ON could be described as participatory pointillism. My idea was relatively simple. It involved making stamping materials (circular rubber stamps + ink/paint pads in a range of colours) available to viewers so that each could contrib ...
W3725
17.05.2011
"The Well" by day and "The Cave" by night - Sissel Kardel
WWW
A four story tower, in the shape of a standing female figure, facade like that of a log cabin which you can enter and explore. Sissel Kardel works from documentary photographs that correspond to visions in which a contemplative female figure is set a ...
A four story tower, in the shape of a standing female figure, facade like that of a log cabin which you can enter and explore. Sissel Kardel works from documentary photographs that correspond to visions in which a contemplative female figure is set a ...
W5245
10.10.2012
No.2 - Jim Bay
WWW
No.2 Come on Jim, make it happen. Do it. Focus. You can do it. I know that what you do isn't easy, but you chose this path Jim and have been treading it a good many years now. This fear, is amateurish. Come on Jim, you have lived, loved and lost. You h ...
No.2 Come on Jim, make it happen. Do it. Focus. You can do it. I know that what you do isn't easy, but you chose this path Jim and have been treading it a good many years now. This fear, is amateurish. Come on Jim, you have lived, loved and lost. You h ...
W5268
13.10.2012
Olga Motchalova
WWW
ЗАЯВКА Краткие сведения об авторе. Ольга Борисовна Мочалова родилась в Москве в 1962 году. В 1985 г. окончила Московский архитектурный инс ...
ЗАЯВКА Краткие сведения об авторе. Ольга Борисовна Мочалова родилась в Москве в 1962 году. В 1985 г. окончила Московский архитектурный инс ...
W3881
19.05.2011
Ned James & the Swifts
WWW
Proposal: Part 1. Use the artists fee to place 1000 £1 bets on the races during St Patrick’s Day. Dressed as the embodiment of St Patrick placing the bets one after another will take all day and create a performance of endurance and intrigue. T ...
Proposal: Part 1. Use the artists fee to place 1000 £1 bets on the races during St Patrick’s Day. Dressed as the embodiment of St Patrick placing the bets one after another will take all day and create a performance of endurance and intrigue. T ...
W4685
26.05.2011
Artist Statement  - barbara greene mann
WWW
Artist Statement These drawings are a new series about the ladies who shopped and shopped and lost their heads. Their necks were used as a periscope.and finally someone said, Put your money where your mouth is. Voila they became known as the Purse Heads. ...
Artist Statement These drawings are a new series about the ladies who shopped and shopped and lost their heads. Their necks were used as a periscope.and finally someone said, Put your money where your mouth is. Voila they became known as the Purse Heads. ...
W4629
25.05.2011
Light Emitting Clematis - Ann LePore
WWW
Light Emitting Clematis for the NJ Bell Telephone building, now Verizon, 540 Broad St. Timed LED lights will "crawl' up the building, providing a beautiful, abstract flourish that hints at visual communication being "Beamed Up" from the Telecom building, ...
Light Emitting Clematis for the NJ Bell Telephone building, now Verizon, 540 Broad St. Timed LED lights will "crawl' up the building, providing a beautiful, abstract flourish that hints at visual communication being "Beamed Up" from the Telecom building, ...
W11050
01.06.2016
B R E A T H E - Acrylicize
WWW
‘Breathe’ intrinsically tells the unique story about the new St Mary’s Square Development, reflecting its past and celebrating the character of the area. This forward thinking modern artistic sculpture is artistically progressive in nature. It creat ...
‘Breathe’ intrinsically tells the unique story about the new St Mary’s Square Development, reflecting its past and celebrating the character of the area. This forward thinking modern artistic sculpture is artistically progressive in nature. It creat ...
W4202
24.05.2011
The Eisenstein Project - janet hodgson
WWW
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
W4311
24.05.2011
A contemporary folk dance  - Adam Lewin
WWW
A contemporary folk dance with mobility scooters. It has been a long tog time dream of mine to do a choreographed performance of the handicapped utilizing mobility scooters whilst filming it overhead in the style of a Busby Berkeley film. ...
A contemporary folk dance with mobility scooters. It has been a long tog time dream of mine to do a choreographed performance of the handicapped utilizing mobility scooters whilst filming it overhead in the style of a Busby Berkeley film. ...
W4082
23.05.2011
Mohamed Ibrahim Elmasry
WWW
Book is based on Arabic calligraphy and images to produce a book works on notice of the Heritage Logistic requirements Human resources:- This includes the job titles and job description The model:- We will contact a various number of actors, act ...
Book is based on Arabic calligraphy and images to produce a book works on notice of the Heritage Logistic requirements Human resources:- This includes the job titles and job description The model:- We will contact a various number of actors, act ...
W5252
11.10.2012
Scott Rogers
WWW
While I realize that Walter De Maria's Earth Room in New York is continuously groomed and manicured to prevent any trace of change, I wish / fantasize that it could be planted (if only for a very brief growing season). I don't think of this as iconoclasti ...
While I realize that Walter De Maria's Earth Room in New York is continuously groomed and manicured to prevent any trace of change, I wish / fantasize that it could be planted (if only for a very brief growing season). I don't think of this as iconoclasti ...
W4934
18.08.2012
A Walk in Paradise - Andreas Gedin
WWW
Andreas Gedin: Plan for Berlin: ”A Walk in Paradise”, 1997 This project concerned the specific conditions for the fauna in the No mans land (or what is left of it) surrounding the former Berlin wall. It was neither a city park or a forest. What int ...
Andreas Gedin: Plan for Berlin: ”A Walk in Paradise”, 1997 This project concerned the specific conditions for the fauna in the No mans land (or what is left of it) surrounding the former Berlin wall. It was neither a city park or a forest. What int ...
U9759
06.04.1997
Monument to Democracy - Kounellis
Unbuilt Roads
La scultura doveva essere posata davanti alla nuova ala del parlamento olandese di Den Haag. Sono partito dalla struttura ampia, di grande presenza, degll fumaioli che si vedevano sui tetto del vecchio parlamento. Questa strutture architectonica era diven ...
La scultura doveva essere posata davanti alla nuova ala del parlamento olandese di Den Haag. Sono partito dalla struttura ampia, di grande presenza, degll fumaioli che si vedevano sui tetto del vecchio parlamento. Questa strutture architectonica era diven ...
W4086
23.05.2011
Revolution Tree - Grace Weir
WWW
Revolution Tree consists of the siting of a large mature Oak tree, where its rootball is planted in a purpose built container that is extremely slowly continuously revolving. The container and all mechanics are hidden underground and the work is completel ...
Revolution Tree consists of the siting of a large mature Oak tree, where its rootball is planted in a purpose built container that is extremely slowly continuously revolving. The container and all mechanics are hidden underground and the work is completel ...
W3879
19.05.2011
SPLASH - Derek Michael Besant
WWW
Seating in the Epcore Centre for Performing Arts turns into an oil spill Client: Epcore Centre for Performing Arts / Calgary Alberta Canada Date: 1990 Central hall of new Epcore Centre designed as public seating area at base of Splash. Sculptur ...
Seating in the Epcore Centre for Performing Arts turns into an oil spill Client: Epcore Centre for Performing Arts / Calgary Alberta Canada Date: 1990 Central hall of new Epcore Centre designed as public seating area at base of Splash. Sculptur ...