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.

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

Temple of the western buddha (1971 Kathmedu) - Herman de Vries

KEEPING IN TOUCH - Allan Kaprow

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

Monument to Democracy - Kounellis

Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero

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

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3722
17.05.2011
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang - ANJA ROSS
WWW
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Goethestraße 41, D-45128 Essen Stipendium der Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung für Zeitgenössische Fotografie 2008 Antragstellerin: ANJA ROSS Schon lange arbeite ich mit der Fotografie intu ...
Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Goethestraße 41, D-45128 Essen Stipendium der Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung für Zeitgenössische Fotografie 2008 Antragstellerin: ANJA ROSS Schon lange arbeite ich mit der Fotografie intu ...
W5251
10.10.2012
Katya Fialkova
WWW
The project was supposed to be a video in which an absurd woman tries to ‘fix’ nature. She puts skirts on trees, makeup on flowers and sunscreen on branches. She throws fabric over a gnarly tree stump to make it ‘prettier’. She measures a wide tre ...
The project was supposed to be a video in which an absurd woman tries to ‘fix’ nature. She puts skirts on trees, makeup on flowers and sunscreen on branches. She throws fabric over a gnarly tree stump to make it ‘prettier’. She measures a wide tre ...
W10982
24.12.2015
Notes Toward a Temple - The Legacy
WWW
This proposal seeks to confront problems in the disciplines of art and architecture in an ecological age. (1) Our infrastructure and aesthetic culture does not attune itself to the ever present crisis of nuclear waste, the bi-product of nuclear energy, wh ...
This proposal seeks to confront problems in the disciplines of art and architecture in an ecological age. (1) Our infrastructure and aesthetic culture does not attune itself to the ever present crisis of nuclear waste, the bi-product of nuclear energy, wh ...
W4008
22.05.2011
YOU WILL BE FAMOUS - Alessandro Rolandi
WWW
Interactive-Installation 1) At the height of at least 5th or 6th floor of a public art space (museum or foundation) it will be installed a door opening on the void. The door must be red and in wood, liek the door leading to a room in a house. Actuall ...
Interactive-Installation 1) At the height of at least 5th or 6th floor of a public art space (museum or foundation) it will be installed a door opening on the void. The door must be red and in wood, liek the door leading to a room in a house. Actuall ...
W10947
11.08.2015
Conduit - A.V. Ryan and Malin Abrahamsson
WWW
Conduit is many things: a recycling project, a purification ritual, a reclamation, a gift. One of the communities we aim to reach is the one that the gallery-going public habitually overlooks in Chelsea – the network of auto body shops and gas stati ...
Conduit is many things: a recycling project, a purification ritual, a reclamation, a gift. One of the communities we aim to reach is the one that the gallery-going public habitually overlooks in Chelsea – the network of auto body shops and gas stati ...
W3925
20.05.2011
Proposal for Witches Memorial in Salem MA - Ed Levine
WWW
Proposal for Witches Memorial in Salem MA Giving voice to Witches Each of the 17 sculptural element is a musical instrument. Compressed air is cycled randomly through the internal pipe in each element. Consequently the sound will project around the si ...
Proposal for Witches Memorial in Salem MA Giving voice to Witches Each of the 17 sculptural element is a musical instrument. Compressed air is cycled randomly through the internal pipe in each element. Consequently the sound will project around the si ...
W5153
24.09.2012
Internal Painting Valuable gift - James Eisen
WWW
Among my recent Project Internal Painting Valuable gift, I examined forms of knowledge and Power, the transference of idea to object from one work to another. These works sit within a wider strategy of enacting associative thought into form. More directly ...
Among my recent Project Internal Painting Valuable gift, I examined forms of knowledge and Power, the transference of idea to object from one work to another. These works sit within a wider strategy of enacting associative thought into form. More directly ...
W10172
18.06.2014
Chicago Torture Justice Memorials' Project - Anja Christine Ross
WWW
The title of "Chicago Torture Justice Memorials' Project" is concerned with my suggestion building up a kind of wall with holes. In these holes you might add photographs of this prison-archives. In my mind I found another idea that this wall has a signatu ...
The title of "Chicago Torture Justice Memorials' Project" is concerned with my suggestion building up a kind of wall with holes. In these holes you might add photographs of this prison-archives. In my mind I found another idea that this wall has a signatu ...
W4955
20.08.2012
Museum of Rene's Contemptorary Art - Rene Price
WWW
MORCA Museum of Rene’s Contemporary Art Rene has produced too much Artstuff. He likes all of it and he has been able to afford to keep it all in storage. His website (www.reneprice.ca) presents 1000 of his more than 2000 3 ...
MORCA Museum of Rene’s Contemporary Art Rene has produced too much Artstuff. He likes all of it and he has been able to afford to keep it all in storage. His website (www.reneprice.ca) presents 1000 of his more than 2000 3 ...
W4965
21.08.2012
Unrealized/able photography - Ana-Maria Huluban
WWW
Unrealized/able photography Ana-Maria Huluban anamariahuluban.com Photograph - possible to be taken directly: A glass cube with 2m sides, full of clear water. Inside the cube there are mirrors which reflect the surroundings and each other. ...
Unrealized/able photography Ana-Maria Huluban anamariahuluban.com Photograph - possible to be taken directly: A glass cube with 2m sides, full of clear water. Inside the cube there are mirrors which reflect the surroundings and each other. ...
W3837
19.05.2011
Where are the California Rolls from? - Maki Na Kamura
WWW
To exhibit art works which revision the Japonisume. The title of the show is "Where are the California Rolls from"? My idea is the exploration of a non-literal and ahistorical portrayal of landscape, which has been presumed as most unspectaclar genre o ...
To exhibit art works which revision the Japonisume. The title of the show is "Where are the California Rolls from"? My idea is the exploration of a non-literal and ahistorical portrayal of landscape, which has been presumed as most unspectaclar genre o ...
W3567
12.05.2011
Connecting the Dots 2002  - Julianna Balogh
WWW
Concept: Why we cannot get along? I am terribly disturbed by the fact that war is still in our vocabulary at the beginning of the 21st century. Medium: High polished golden color bronze, and unpol We are all connected from the North pole to the Sout ...
Concept: Why we cannot get along? I am terribly disturbed by the fact that war is still in our vocabulary at the beginning of the 21st century. Medium: High polished golden color bronze, and unpol We are all connected from the North pole to the Sout ...
W4560
25.05.2011
The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art  - Bill Dolson
WWW
Bill Dolson The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art "Why is there no art in space, why do we have no exhibitions in the sky? Up to now we have left it up to war to light up the sky..." Otto Piene 1961 Reentry is a series of p ...
Bill Dolson The Reentry Project: Artificial Meteor Storms as Public Art "Why is there no art in space, why do we have no exhibitions in the sky? Up to now we have left it up to war to light up the sky..." Otto Piene 1961 Reentry is a series of p ...
W4388
25.05.2011
THIS ISA NICE NEIGHBORHOOD - MARTINEZ PETROPOULOS WHITE
WWW
THIS ISA NICE NEIGHBORHOOD Moscone Center/Howard Street Project, San Francisco, CA 1991 Located two blocks south of Market Street, the site is the space between two Convention Centers – six lanes of traffic, with two sets of three lane bus and taxi ...
THIS ISA NICE NEIGHBORHOOD Moscone Center/Howard Street Project, San Francisco, CA 1991 Located two blocks south of Market Street, the site is the space between two Convention Centers – six lanes of traffic, with two sets of three lane bus and taxi ...
W5200
03.10.2012
The plan of scientific work « Russian branch Mecklenburg - Strelitz family. Russia - Germany. Sight of the artist of XXI century. » - Yuri Wassiliew
WWW
Wassiliew J.A., dozent of drawing department in A.I.Gertzen Russian State Pedagogical University, Sankt Petersburg, Russia. The plan of scientific work « Russian branch Mecklenburg - Strelitz family. Russia - Germany. Sight of the art ...
Wassiliew J.A., dozent of drawing department in A.I.Gertzen Russian State Pedagogical University, Sankt Petersburg, Russia. The plan of scientific work « Russian branch Mecklenburg - Strelitz family. Russia - Germany. Sight of the art ...
W4375
25.05.2011
Potential Artworks to be Completed by You, the Viewer.  - Thomas Friel
WWW
Potential Artworks to be Completed by You, the Viewer. Below is a list of potential artworks that can be performed by anyone, one or many times, for an indefinite number of times. They are intended to offer an individual aesthetic experience to the p ...
Potential Artworks to be Completed by You, the Viewer. Below is a list of potential artworks that can be performed by anyone, one or many times, for an indefinite number of times. They are intended to offer an individual aesthetic experience to the p ...
W4318
24.05.2011
Taking the Call Center - Yumi Janairo Roth and Nadine Wasserman
WWW
Outsourcing is common in a global economy. It is often maligned for taking jobs away from American workers and is also a source of pop culture humor. For the people working in these jobs, however, it can mean the difference between staying home or leavin ...
Outsourcing is common in a global economy. It is often maligned for taking jobs away from American workers and is also a source of pop culture humor. For the people working in these jobs, however, it can mean the difference between staying home or leavin ...
W3552
12.05.2011
THE SECOND LIFE MARTYRS SHOW! - margherita isola
WWW
Thanks an experience of life at the Freedom Theatre of Jenin with the kids of the refugee camp, I decide to start this project about Palestinian people and their martyrs. The Second Life martyrs show!is an alternative utopia to the violence that people ...
Thanks an experience of life at the Freedom Theatre of Jenin with the kids of the refugee camp, I decide to start this project about Palestinian people and their martyrs. The Second Life martyrs show!is an alternative utopia to the violence that people ...
U9864
01.01.1992
Post Photographic apparatus - Steven Pippin
Unbuilt Roads
Description: The impetus came from , or was initially inspired by the endless stream of monotonous images created by the exponential growth in the amount of photographic apparatus. In an effort to counteract this mediocre use of such a powerfull medium ...
Description: The impetus came from , or was initially inspired by the endless stream of monotonous images created by the exponential growth in the amount of photographic apparatus. In an effort to counteract this mediocre use of such a powerfull medium ...
W3861
19.05.2011
Social Housing Concept - PRINZGAU/podgorschek
WWW
Um das Jahr 2000 gab es in Wien die Diskussion wieweit man den Gemeindebau für MigrantInnen öffnen soll. Mit einem Schlag wurde das Wiener Herz in tiefster Seele getroffen und ein heftiges Für und Wider entbrannte. Im Zuge der Geschehnisse legte ...
Um das Jahr 2000 gab es in Wien die Diskussion wieweit man den Gemeindebau für MigrantInnen öffnen soll. Mit einem Schlag wurde das Wiener Herz in tiefster Seele getroffen und ein heftiges Für und Wider entbrannte. Im Zuge der Geschehnisse legte ...
W10876
12.02.2015
Walking (Autonomous) Sculpture - Genco Gulan
WWW
I am interested in making moving (autonomous) sculptures with real robots. I did worked with some other different kinds of robots and got a prize with them at EMAF in 2005 as part of a larger project . But they were smaller, and theri walking, moving capa ...
I am interested in making moving (autonomous) sculptures with real robots. I did worked with some other different kinds of robots and got a prize with them at EMAF in 2005 as part of a larger project . But they were smaller, and theri walking, moving capa ...
W4797
14.06.2011
Robert Irwin's 4 Unrealized Projects - Judy Freya Sibayan
WWW
Robert Irwin's 4 Unrealized Projects: FREEWAY MONUMENT (Embarcadero, San Francisco, 1977); TILTED PLANES (Ohio State University, 1978); VARIOUS SIGHT LINES (Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1988); ALLEE (Winter Olympics, Albertville, France, 1992) ...
Robert Irwin's 4 Unrealized Projects: FREEWAY MONUMENT (Embarcadero, San Francisco, 1977); TILTED PLANES (Ohio State University, 1978); VARIOUS SIGHT LINES (Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1988); ALLEE (Winter Olympics, Albertville, France, 1992) ...
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 ...
W5754
21.05.2013
Like birds on the water - Laura Carthew
WWW
Laura Carthew Like birds on the water, Propositional Photo montage of a performance. 2011 This piece was going to be a continuation of my ‘Living Memorial’ project (2011), which involved people acting as objects within memorial forms. I wanted ...
Laura Carthew Like birds on the water, Propositional Photo montage of a performance. 2011 This piece was going to be a continuation of my ‘Living Memorial’ project (2011), which involved people acting as objects within memorial forms. I wanted ...
W3866
19.05.2011
LABOR OF OTHERS - Donald Shambroom
WWW
The Labor of Others' is a sculptural project that places itself in the whirlpool of intellectual property rights questions. In this series the acts of conceiving and fabricating the work of art are removed from me, the artist. I have utilized, or stole ...
The Labor of Others' is a sculptural project that places itself in the whirlpool of intellectual property rights questions. In this series the acts of conceiving and fabricating the work of art are removed from me, the artist. I have utilized, or stole ...
W4034
22.05.2011
Juarez's Feet - Renato Garza Cervera
WWW
"Juarez's Feet" is a work in process which pretends to build someday in India a monument that will work as the extension of the monument dedicated to Benito Juarez in Mexico's capital city. Mexico and India are antipodal territories in the northern hem ...
"Juarez's Feet" is a work in process which pretends to build someday in India a monument that will work as the extension of the monument dedicated to Benito Juarez in Mexico's capital city. Mexico and India are antipodal territories in the northern hem ...