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.

Post Photographic apparatus - Steven Pippin

La Guerra De Los Simbolos - Victor Grippo

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

Unrealized project for Tate Gallery + ICA, 1969 - Gilbert and George

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

Project 1 + Project 2 - Simryn Gill

119. PROJET DE DESTRUCTION DU MUSEE 1970 - 1971 - Jef Geys

Unrealized Turtles 1967 - Joseph Grigely

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3614
13.05.2011
Thanasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani
WWW
In July 1981, and again in February 1989, we proposed to friends of ours and other artists and to everyone it may concern-through texts in the magazines “Sin kai Plin” and “To Bitoni”, to found a football team. We made this proposal because of ...
In July 1981, and again in February 1989, we proposed to friends of ours and other artists and to everyone it may concern-through texts in the magazines “Sin kai Plin” and “To Bitoni”, to found a football team. We made this proposal because of ...
W4650
25.05.2011
La Fonataine  - silvia pereira
WWW
La Fonataine – Lasershot by Sílvia Pereira    Inside a museum room. A laser machine is mounted in a distance of 4 meters to the outer wall. Every thirty minutes it`s being activated and shoots its laser beam ag ...
La Fonataine – Lasershot by Sílvia Pereira    Inside a museum room. A laser machine is mounted in a distance of 4 meters to the outer wall. Every thirty minutes it`s being activated and shoots its laser beam ag ...
W4110
23.05.2011
The Circumference is Everywhere - Daniel R Small
WWW
The Circumference is Everywhere, 2011 100 miles Northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert lies a city abandoned in advance of itself, a ruin that is an aerial monument to misguided optimism that was conceived of by Nat Mendelsohn and intended to r ...
The Circumference is Everywhere, 2011 100 miles Northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert lies a city abandoned in advance of itself, a ruin that is an aerial monument to misguided optimism that was conceived of by Nat Mendelsohn and intended to r ...
W3846
19.05.2011
We Prowl - Jodi Patterson
WWW
"We Prowl" series. Drew idealistic male forms on plastic as inspired by online personal profiles. Titles came from the tag lines used to lure a mate (submitting "Black Cat Hunting 4 Goddess" and "Wealth and Power"). Wealthy and Strong * 32- ...
"We Prowl" series. Drew idealistic male forms on plastic as inspired by online personal profiles. Titles came from the tag lines used to lure a mate (submitting "Black Cat Hunting 4 Goddess" and "Wealth and Power"). Wealthy and Strong * 32- ...
W4855
08.08.2012
A kiss on Leyli's Navel - Neda Tavallaee
WWW
This is a work that emphasizes on telling the life story of an Iranian woman through the use of the Chador,which is a traditional islamic covering. Proposal Title:A kiss on Leyli's navel.(The birth,life and death of an Iranian woman) I would like to e ...
This is a work that emphasizes on telling the life story of an Iranian woman through the use of the Chador,which is a traditional islamic covering. Proposal Title:A kiss on Leyli's navel.(The birth,life and death of an Iranian woman) I would like to e ...
W10528
16.05.2014
Somewhere Between 540,412,598 and 579,858,773 Breaths - Alex McKenzie
WWW
Somewhere Between 540,412,598 and 579,858,773 Breaths is an attempt to link the action of breathing to the passage of time and by extension to our own mortality. The project takes the form of a large-scale video installation with 400 separate projectors. ...
Somewhere Between 540,412,598 and 579,858,773 Breaths is an attempt to link the action of breathing to the passage of time and by extension to our own mortality. The project takes the form of a large-scale video installation with 400 separate projectors. ...
W4579
25.05.2011
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT - Annita Koutsonanou | Evy Tsolaki | Maria Spaniola
WWW
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT …I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars [..]. I thought that a man might be an enemy of other men, of the different moment of other ...
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT …I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars [..]. I thought that a man might be an enemy of other men, of the different moment of other ...
U9941
01.01.1993
No title, as the project only reached proposal stage - Rikrit Tiravanija
Unbuilt Roads
Proposal No. 1 (a) In the exhibition space, in proximation (as precisely as possible) to actual space. Replicate (Reconstruct) in architectural scale, space and in specific: detail, the office of the director of the museum. (b) All contents (in deta ...
Proposal No. 1 (a) In the exhibition space, in proximation (as precisely as possible) to actual space. Replicate (Reconstruct) in architectural scale, space and in specific: detail, the office of the director of the museum. (b) All contents (in deta ...
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 ...
W4992
29.08.2012
Juvena 17 - David Evrard
WWW
Juvena 17 was a project in the public space i win, 5 years ago or something. It was to make something regarding the construction of a new cultural center in the city of Soignies, Belgium. My proposition was to make 4 number of a newspaper, distributed in ...
Juvena 17 was a project in the public space i win, 5 years ago or something. It was to make something regarding the construction of a new cultural center in the city of Soignies, Belgium. My proposition was to make 4 number of a newspaper, distributed in ...
W5382
19.10.2012
Marina Stavrou
WWW
By Marina Stavrou The ‘Unrealized project’ I am foreshadowing made its first ‘appearance’ first in 2011. The work tried to make visible the experience of keeping a secret. This secret took the form of bread for the shooting of a 16mm and ...
By Marina Stavrou The ‘Unrealized project’ I am foreshadowing made its first ‘appearance’ first in 2011. The work tried to make visible the experience of keeping a secret. This secret took the form of bread for the shooting of a 16mm and ...
W4259
24.05.2011
Why leave the shelter? - Arcady Kotler
WWW
Why leave the shelter? (The Tale of the construction of my shell) I don’t even remember when construction of the shelter started, but it happened somehow unnoticeably. When I was young it was nothing like a fortress, but just big opened space with e ...
Why leave the shelter? (The Tale of the construction of my shell) I don’t even remember when construction of the shelter started, but it happened somehow unnoticeably. When I was young it was nothing like a fortress, but just big opened space with e ...
W5401
20.10.2012
Sculpture in a park - Alexandros Kaklamanos
WWW
Abstract of the Project Proposal Sculpture in a park During 2010-2011, a thorough research is conducted on the vortex. Now, a need is emerged to create a sculpture that will produce the vortex in a natural way, without using any electro mechanical assi ...
Abstract of the Project Proposal Sculpture in a park During 2010-2011, a thorough research is conducted on the vortex. Now, a need is emerged to create a sculpture that will produce the vortex in a natural way, without using any electro mechanical assi ...
W3564
12.05.2011
Das Kapital - Marcello Mercado
WWW
Das Kapital: http://www.marcellomercado.com/html/videoart/index.html "Marcello Mercado’s Capital is neither a finished product nor artware. His Capital is a work-in-progress. It will not be finished until the artist no longer believes in it or when ...
Das Kapital: http://www.marcellomercado.com/html/videoart/index.html "Marcello Mercado’s Capital is neither a finished product nor artware. His Capital is a work-in-progress. It will not be finished until the artist no longer believes in it or when ...
W5175
26.09.2012
Action Office III - Geissler Sann
WWW
Action Office III The first cubicles were designed in 1967 by Robert Propst. The purpose was to give the workers more privacy, to isolate them from sights and noises of an open workspace. Probst consulted for his research mathematicians, behavioral psych ...
Action Office III The first cubicles were designed in 1967 by Robert Propst. The purpose was to give the workers more privacy, to isolate them from sights and noises of an open workspace. Probst consulted for his research mathematicians, behavioral psych ...
W5139
21.09.2012
Odor Memory - K. Deniz Pireci
WWW
W3520
11.05.2011
Steingrimur Eyfjord
WWW
These ideas are from a project I am working on which has the working title “KELLINGIN“ and is a collection of ideas, text and images. ...
These ideas are from a project I am working on which has the working title “KELLINGIN“ and is a collection of ideas, text and images. ...
W3568
12.05.2011
The Pantheon 2001 - Julianna Balogh
WWW
Concept: to create a Pantheon for women of the 21st century and dedicate the building to Hillary Clinton because I see it as an artist that in this moment of history the world needs women, the caretakers, as leaders who can "connect the dots". The buil ...
Concept: to create a Pantheon for women of the 21st century and dedicate the building to Hillary Clinton because I see it as an artist that in this moment of history the world needs women, the caretakers, as leaders who can "connect the dots". The buil ...
W4563
25.05.2011
darius
WWW
Well, I do not know nevertheless I tend to imagine it being not. As for me, life seems to be a continuous experience. I suppose, if you’re only interested in the individual – arguably a rather crude segregation. But isn’t it also true ...
Well, I do not know nevertheless I tend to imagine it being not. As for me, life seems to be a continuous experience. I suppose, if you’re only interested in the individual – arguably a rather crude segregation. But isn’t it also true ...
W4887
10.08.2012
Caravan Tour - An Inverted World - Ann Messner
WWW
caravan tour — an inverted world A Proposal for a Transportable Camera Obscura for the Courts of Lower Manhattan The Lower Manhattan court buildings in their neoclassical grandeur and scale endure as visual tropes of the solidity of the power of justice ...
caravan tour — an inverted world A Proposal for a Transportable Camera Obscura for the Courts of Lower Manhattan The Lower Manhattan court buildings in their neoclassical grandeur and scale endure as visual tropes of the solidity of the power of justice ...
W4448
25.05.2011
Minaret Project - Joanna Rajkowska
WWW
Minaret Project ‘What is absolutely crucial for me is the relationship between the work, a real work in real space, and the body. One can hardly discuss a project’s impact on the public sphere if the project is not physically there, if everyone onl ...
Minaret Project ‘What is absolutely crucial for me is the relationship between the work, a real work in real space, and the body. One can hardly discuss a project’s impact on the public sphere if the project is not physically there, if everyone onl ...
W10705
30.08.2014
space-in-between  - Ya-Wen Fu
WWW
I seek to discuss the issues about the definition of human body and the relationship between individual body and external surroundings in my artworks. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes: ”The human body inhabits in space; moreover, it itself is an expr ...
I seek to discuss the issues about the definition of human body and the relationship between individual body and external surroundings in my artworks. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes: ”The human body inhabits in space; moreover, it itself is an expr ...
W4989
28.08.2012
Food Sluice - Ulrike Möntmann
WWW
FOOD SLUICE The literal reference of the Food Sluice is to a way of channelling food. Following the principle of a sluice, the flow of food between two spaces is regulated, without there ever being a direct, open connection between these spaces. Un ...
FOOD SLUICE The literal reference of the Food Sluice is to a way of channelling food. Following the principle of a sluice, the flow of food between two spaces is regulated, without there ever being a direct, open connection between these spaces. Un ...
W5350
18.10.2012
Mariano Del Rosario
WWW
An art installation with mirrored tunnels connecting three derelict industrial buildings as transitory laboratory space for art experimentation. A permit to contain, wrap, and occupy three toxic and derelict industrial buildings in Brooklyn, New York, ...
An art installation with mirrored tunnels connecting three derelict industrial buildings as transitory laboratory space for art experimentation. A permit to contain, wrap, and occupy three toxic and derelict industrial buildings in Brooklyn, New York, ...
W3511
11.05.2011
Brand New Door - Brian Hubble
WWW
In exchange for a discount on my bill, I built a door for the makeshift storage unit adjacent to my mechanic’s garage. I wanted the door to be functional but look as if it had been there for years, fitting in the weathered environment. I collected mater ...
In exchange for a discount on my bill, I built a door for the makeshift storage unit adjacent to my mechanic’s garage. I wanted the door to be functional but look as if it had been there for years, fitting in the weathered environment. I collected mater ...
W5489
26.10.2012
The Greatest Show on Earth is Leaving - Sascha Pohflepp
WWW
The Greatest Show on Earth is Leaving 3000 helium-filled balloons are held in place form the column-like vertical plume that resembles the one found just after the launch of a space rocket. After being released, the column dissipates under the influenc ...
The Greatest Show on Earth is Leaving 3000 helium-filled balloons are held in place form the column-like vertical plume that resembles the one found just after the launch of a space rocket. After being released, the column dissipates under the influenc ...