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.

Battery Park City - Per Kirkeby

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

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

Notebook Page: Home in the Form of a Banana with Garage,  - Claes Oldenburg

MODELL OF AN OFFICE FOR A COUPLE OF TWINS, BOTH 1,38 TALL" - Tobias Rehrenberg

2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin

Brücke Wein-Kanal Arch. Hermann Czech, Wein - Franz West

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

The Rosetta Garden - Gary Simmons

The lmprobable Flow - Larry Bell

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3865
19.05.2011
23rd Street Station MTA PROPOSAL 5-5-00 - Chris Twomey
WWW
The concept for this proposal evolved from my own experience riding the subway line last year when I had to travel with my infant. I would board the train at rush hour with her sleeping snugly positioned in my body. Then, I noticed the harried and tired ...
The concept for this proposal evolved from my own experience riding the subway line last year when I had to travel with my infant. I would board the train at rush hour with her sleeping snugly positioned in my body. Then, I noticed the harried and tired ...
W4436
25.05.2011
Lucy Hawthorne
WWW
I imagined the toothpick sculpture project as a lighthearted, easy to produce artwork - a method of shoehorning myself out of my artmaking slumber. 3000 toothpicks and 4 months later and I've barely made a dent. How does this object swallow so many toothp ...
I imagined the toothpick sculpture project as a lighthearted, easy to produce artwork - a method of shoehorning myself out of my artmaking slumber. 3000 toothpicks and 4 months later and I've barely made a dent. How does this object swallow so many toothp ...
W4124
23.05.2011
Here/There - Matthew Slaats
WWW
Here/There Matthew Slaats Project Proposal Here/There is a virtual 3D exploration of the spatial, temporal, economic and physical relationships between environments in North and South America. Project Description Here/There aims to illustr ...
Here/There Matthew Slaats Project Proposal Here/There is a virtual 3D exploration of the spatial, temporal, economic and physical relationships between environments in North and South America. Project Description Here/There aims to illustr ...
W4449
25.05.2011
20 Years After  - Xavier Rayuela
WWW
20 Years After As a par-time AIDS activist and militant, I decided to create an event to celebrate "A Day Without Art" by proposing an intervention / intrusion and re-staging residuals of my previous events related to AIDS. As an artist I was always fa ...
20 Years After As a par-time AIDS activist and militant, I decided to create an event to celebrate "A Day Without Art" by proposing an intervention / intrusion and re-staging residuals of my previous events related to AIDS. As an artist I was always fa ...
W5235
09.10.2012
Two Years’ Untouched Garden  - WOOLOO
WWW
Two Years’ Untouched Garden 6th Momentum Biennial Moss, Norway (2011) Two Years’ Untouched Garden was Wooloo’s proposed work for the 6th Momentum Biennial. The work was to be a sculptural intervention among the gardens and grounds of the historical ...
Two Years’ Untouched Garden 6th Momentum Biennial Moss, Norway (2011) Two Years’ Untouched Garden was Wooloo’s proposed work for the 6th Momentum Biennial. The work was to be a sculptural intervention among the gardens and grounds of the historical ...
W5257
12.10.2012
Unseen Connections - Andrei Sidorkin
WWW
This is a project concerning social and institutional critique both. It is the play with the problem of localization of the place where art should happen, but suddenly it appears in another place than it was expected. And also this project reveals conform ...
This is a project concerning social and institutional critique both. It is the play with the problem of localization of the place where art should happen, but suddenly it appears in another place than it was expected. And also this project reveals conform ...
W3903
20.05.2011
A dream finds the way - Новогребельская Мария
WWW
Artist’s Statement “A dream finds the way” A.S.Grin “Movement” Once I realized that I am near the truth and this made me free. It is the best if one does in his life something that brings pleasure, what interesting is. ...
Artist’s Statement “A dream finds the way” A.S.Grin “Movement” Once I realized that I am near the truth and this made me free. It is the best if one does in his life something that brings pleasure, what interesting is. ...
W4383
25.05.2011
Lunch - Tra Bouscaren
WWW
Tra Bouscaren: Lunch For the "Lunch" project, I propose to cut off a piece of my own ass and have it grown in a laboratory until it reaches some kind of meal-like proportions, and then eat it as a performance. In addition, I would like to to make ...
Tra Bouscaren: Lunch For the "Lunch" project, I propose to cut off a piece of my own ass and have it grown in a laboratory until it reaches some kind of meal-like proportions, and then eat it as a performance. In addition, I would like to to make ...
W5169
26.09.2012
The winnipeg free museum  - Kendra Place
WWW
The winnipeg free museum (2009–2010) was an impossible, dividual artists' project. If Museums are being built as walled inspiration, promising experience and claiming to face the (carceral/) future, would the non-built or dematerialized, situated within ...
The winnipeg free museum (2009–2010) was an impossible, dividual artists' project. If Museums are being built as walled inspiration, promising experience and claiming to face the (carceral/) future, would the non-built or dematerialized, situated within ...
U9936
23.01.1997
Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero
Unbuilt Roads
Dear Hans-Ulrich, Thank you for inviting me to participate in "Unbuilt Worlds - unrealized artist-projects". Sounds terrific. In 1986 I was invited to participate in a program called "Messages to the Public". The invited artists would be given a 30- ...
Dear Hans-Ulrich, Thank you for inviting me to participate in "Unbuilt Worlds - unrealized artist-projects". Sounds terrific. In 1986 I was invited to participate in a program called "Messages to the Public". The invited artists would be given a 30- ...
W4599
25.05.2011
Oh Buck, horse heartbreak - Bethany Fancher
WWW
Oh Buck, horse heartbreak Posted by Bethany Jean at 6/11/2008 11:43 AM Categories: horse travel Well, circumstances don't provide enough time for Buck to feel ok being in a trailer. Karin's job ended early and it is time to go. Buck is staying on the ...
Oh Buck, horse heartbreak Posted by Bethany Jean at 6/11/2008 11:43 AM Categories: horse travel Well, circumstances don't provide enough time for Buck to feel ok being in a trailer. Karin's job ended early and it is time to go. Buck is staying on the ...
W4092
23.05.2011
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000003 - Stefano W. Pasquini
WWW
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000003: The Queen of England becomes part of an installation / performance in a gallery. I am sending you a selection of projects, all of them can be found here: http://stefanopasquini.net/content/unremain.html ...
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000003: The Queen of England becomes part of an installation / performance in a gallery. I am sending you a selection of projects, all of them can be found here: http://stefanopasquini.net/content/unremain.html ...
W4710
26.05.2011
Instructions to finding a future - Batya F. Kuncman
WWW
Instructions to finding a future Previously known as “Contemporary stream of consciousness: Stored data of identity as a work in progress” this project is an ongoing investigation into my individual identity as it relates to collective identity. Cul ...
Instructions to finding a future Previously known as “Contemporary stream of consciousness: Stored data of identity as a work in progress” this project is an ongoing investigation into my individual identity as it relates to collective identity. Cul ...
W5450
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” A house or room, housed elsewhere. A large room or rectangular structure set within another space, so that one can see the outside of it and move into its interior. A more ambit ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” A house or room, housed elsewhere. A large room or rectangular structure set within another space, so that one can see the outside of it and move into its interior. A more ambit ...
W4420
25.05.2011
Michel NORTH
WWW
Household aluminium foil sculptures - development of a "fa presto" technique in sculpture. Those are two examples of statues (image 1: 1978; image 2: 1985), unrealised in that sense that the technique used and developped by me about 50 years ago still do ...
Household aluminium foil sculptures - development of a "fa presto" technique in sculpture. Those are two examples of statues (image 1: 1978; image 2: 1985), unrealised in that sense that the technique used and developped by me about 50 years ago still do ...
U9903
01.01.1994
Art and Ourselves: A Proposal for the city of Nordhorn - Allen Rupperssberg
Unbuilt Roads
see my catalog from the Magazine. The complete text is there. (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Political Previous Publications (?) Catalog from where art Magazine 1996 Exisiting Documents: to be requested from No ...
see my catalog from the Magazine. The complete text is there. (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Political Previous Publications (?) Catalog from where art Magazine 1996 Exisiting Documents: to be requested from No ...
W4094
23.05.2011
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000008 - Stefano W. Pasquini
WWW
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000008: The gallery wall gets shot with a machine gun. The project almost got realized in 1996 in a gallery in Maastricht. Unfortunately the Dutch Police wouldn't allow the shooting to happen, even without public, and advised the us ...
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000008: The gallery wall gets shot with a machine gun. The project almost got realized in 1996 in a gallery in Maastricht. Unfortunately the Dutch Police wouldn't allow the shooting to happen, even without public, and advised the us ...
W4155
23.05.2011
Got to the Studio - Oli Sorenson
WWW
The “Got to the Studio” series is a yet-to-be realised project, recording several failed attempts to make a masterpiece, or similar great work of art, either through lack of talent or simple laziness. ...
The “Got to the Studio” series is a yet-to-be realised project, recording several failed attempts to make a masterpiece, or similar great work of art, either through lack of talent or simple laziness. ...
W3621
14.05.2011
The 3 Muses of West Hollywood - Phil Tarley
WWW
Public Art For Street Installation in the City of West Hollywood, California ARTIST’S STATEMENT: THE 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD Who are we, the people of West Hollywood? Where do we come from? What do we do? As we live out our lives here ...
Public Art For Street Installation in the City of West Hollywood, California ARTIST’S STATEMENT: THE 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD Who are we, the people of West Hollywood? Where do we come from? What do we do? As we live out our lives here ...
W4020
22.05.2011
Rural pleasure trip / an investigation of sounds - Gisela Weimann
WWW
Gisela Weimann >www.giselaweimann.de< Since the 80s the focal points of my projects are sound installations and experimental music-theatre productions that include artists and theorists from different fields and national descend. Gisela Weimann ...
Gisela Weimann >www.giselaweimann.de< Since the 80s the focal points of my projects are sound installations and experimental music-theatre productions that include artists and theorists from different fields and national descend. Gisela Weimann ...
D10808
01.01.2003
The House of Language - Bethan Huws
DAAD
To print this phrase on a relatively large number of (bird) nest boxes – the German concrete cylinder type which are not analogous to human houses, unlike their French and British counterparts – and then to install these in an area of a forest that do ...
To print this phrase on a relatively large number of (bird) nest boxes – the German concrete cylinder type which are not analogous to human houses, unlike their French and British counterparts – and then to install these in an area of a forest that do ...
W4973
24.08.2012
neither hidden nor visible - Jean-Charles Agboton-Jumeau
WWW
neither hidden nor visible project description: My project for the Berlin edition of AUP in collaboration with the Berliner Künstlerprogramm/ DAAD is to "document, display and/or archive" the catalogue titled January 5-31, 2009 with its label.... S ...
neither hidden nor visible project description: My project for the Berlin edition of AUP in collaboration with the Berliner Künstlerprogramm/ DAAD is to "document, display and/or archive" the catalogue titled January 5-31, 2009 with its label.... S ...
W3624
14.05.2011
Steve Rosenthal
WWW
Unrealized project from March 2008. The proposal was made to Acantia Health and Beauty Ltd, seeking sponsorship in the form of 6000 bars of Coal Tar Soap to realize the construction of a 'Yellow Brick Road' for my final degree show. Please see text (i ...
Unrealized project from March 2008. The proposal was made to Acantia Health and Beauty Ltd, seeking sponsorship in the form of 6000 bars of Coal Tar Soap to realize the construction of a 'Yellow Brick Road' for my final degree show. Please see text (i ...
W4255
24.05.2011
BLOCHER SYLVIE
WWW
Project prizewinner of the competition of the RATP (PARIS PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM / Metro) in bets for the year 2000. (The competition was in 1998) The project consisted of an installation in the station « Concorde » Line1 in Paris. Conditions of ...
Project prizewinner of the competition of the RATP (PARIS PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM / Metro) in bets for the year 2000. (The competition was in 1998) The project consisted of an installation in the station « Concorde » Line1 in Paris. Conditions of ...
W4891
10.08.2012
Rachael Agnew
WWW
This project questions the structure of the foundations of scientific reality based on the atomic model and contrasts this with the philosophy of phenomenology. The paradox of these two contrasting foundations creates an opening for exploration while also ...
This project questions the structure of the foundations of scientific reality based on the atomic model and contrasts this with the philosophy of phenomenology. The paradox of these two contrasting foundations creates an opening for exploration while also ...
W3786
18.05.2011
Broadside & Plan For A New American Home: Volumes 5 & 6 in 6 Volume Artist Book Project - Jordan West
WWW
To The Agency Of Unrealized Projects May 18, 2011 Dear Curator, I have submitted two projects for your consideration. These are both Artists' Books that I have not been realized at the present time. They are two in a series of six artists' books ...
To The Agency Of Unrealized Projects May 18, 2011 Dear Curator, I have submitted two projects for your consideration. These are both Artists' Books that I have not been realized at the present time. They are two in a series of six artists' books ...