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.

654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha

Dog Jaw Monument - A Futurist Tele-introject - Leon Golub

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

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

The pyramids...to be seen to be believed - Jonathan Monk

Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry

Memorial - Ilya Kabakov

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3885
19.05.2011
THE 
CHILHOOD
 OF
 AN 
ENCOUNTER
 - Martin Llavaneras
WWW
At a dinner I met R.M, aged 56 millionaire. We had a conversation. The same night, we entertained the idea of making a project together: ¨...what would happen if you were hanging from a cliff by a rope, and the rope is cut ?... ...
At a dinner I met R.M, aged 56 millionaire. We had a conversation. The same night, we entertained the idea of making a project together: ¨...what would happen if you were hanging from a cliff by a rope, and the rope is cut ?... ...
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 ...
W5449
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING II: "SEEDBED, AND...”  - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING II: "SEEDBED, AND...” is a play on Acconci's performance of similar name. The 'SeedBed, and…” is meant to be entered through a below ground tunnel, just large enough for a six foot person, who ste ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING II: "SEEDBED, AND...” is a play on Acconci's performance of similar name. The 'SeedBed, and…” is meant to be entered through a below ground tunnel, just large enough for a six foot person, who ste ...
W3647
15.05.2011
World Atlas - ANNA LASCARI
WWW
“World Atlas” is a visual depiction of worldwide hunger. It is a monument to all the people whose lives are in stake due to hunger, whether it is a child that dies every five seconds from hunger related causes, or those in the West who search dumpster ...
“World Atlas” is a visual depiction of worldwide hunger. It is a monument to all the people whose lives are in stake due to hunger, whether it is a child that dies every five seconds from hunger related causes, or those in the West who search dumpster ...
W4181
24.05.2011
Gallery Tour - Claudia Ulisses
WWW
Project: Gallery Tour Year: 2001 Artist: Claudia Ulisses Gallery Tour is a journey into the empty interior of some art galleries or museums (art spaces), where the visitor is literally transported by a chair that moves through the space. The visit ...
Project: Gallery Tour Year: 2001 Artist: Claudia Ulisses Gallery Tour is a journey into the empty interior of some art galleries or museums (art spaces), where the visitor is literally transported by a chair that moves through the space. The visit ...
W4444
25.05.2011
Path to nothingness - Jenson Anto
WWW
Path to nothingness The mountains had been waiting for me, every rivulet, boulder, weathered rock too. And the icy winds let me know that. At 60kph, the wind resistance knocks down the speed to a mere 10kph and drills sand into my nose. Melting snow ha ...
Path to nothingness The mountains had been waiting for me, every rivulet, boulder, weathered rock too. And the icy winds let me know that. At 60kph, the wind resistance knocks down the speed to a mere 10kph and drills sand into my nose. Melting snow ha ...
W4602
25.05.2011
Alexander Vaindorf
WWW
"In the Shadow of the Monument" 2009 PROPOSAL # 2 Images from the solo exhibition at Art Center Gävle, Sweden. And a temporary public monument "In the shadow of the double" in City Hall Courtyard in the city of Gävle, Sweden. more info http://a ...
"In the Shadow of the Monument" 2009 PROPOSAL # 2 Images from the solo exhibition at Art Center Gävle, Sweden. And a temporary public monument "In the shadow of the double" in City Hall Courtyard in the city of Gävle, Sweden. more info http://a ...
W3700
17.05.2011
Las Spratlys Project - Jevijoe Vitug
WWW
Las Spratlys Project The unrealized project Las Spratlys is based on Spratly Islands, a disputed islands claimed by China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. The initial concept is to activate these islands by creating a joint venture agreement ...
Las Spratlys Project The unrealized project Las Spratlys is based on Spratly Islands, a disputed islands claimed by China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. The initial concept is to activate these islands by creating a joint venture agreement ...
W3926
20.05.2011
Denkzeichen Rosa Luxemburg - Oliver Ressler
WWW
My design for the competition “Denkzeichen Rosa Luxemburg” (Memory Marker Rosa Luxemburg; Berlin 2003) drew upon the Revolution Monument by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which was commissioned in 1926 by the German Communist Party as the central memorial ...
My design for the competition “Denkzeichen Rosa Luxemburg” (Memory Marker Rosa Luxemburg; Berlin 2003) drew upon the Revolution Monument by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which was commissioned in 1926 by the German Communist Party as the central memorial ...
W4734
26.05.2011
Dead but not gone - Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka
WWW
Dead but not gone …. Dead but not gone is a project about the dead things that once was live and living in this world. This was unrealized photography project that, recently I found as going back to my photography archive from 2005 to 2011, I have take ...
Dead but not gone …. Dead but not gone is a project about the dead things that once was live and living in this world. This was unrealized photography project that, recently I found as going back to my photography archive from 2005 to 2011, I have take ...
W4320
24.05.2011
Unrealized Project Title: Found Object: Robert Allen  - Antoinette LaFarge
WWW
Unrealized Project Title: Found Object: Robert Allen Initially proposed: 1991 Artist: Antoinette LaFarge Please refer to the accompanying JPEG from the original proposal. One day in 1991, I came across a flyer for a juried exhibition entitled “ ...
Unrealized Project Title: Found Object: Robert Allen Initially proposed: 1991 Artist: Antoinette LaFarge Please refer to the accompanying JPEG from the original proposal. One day in 1991, I came across a flyer for a juried exhibition entitled “ ...
W4324
24.05.2011
Whisper – Murmur – Howl  - Mitya Nesterov
WWW
Whisper – Murmur – Howl Installation Project Framework It all started a few years ago when I came across several sculptured heads lying down all messy in a back yard of an art college my ex-wife attended, just like scraps of junk. I photograp ...
Whisper – Murmur – Howl Installation Project Framework It all started a few years ago when I came across several sculptured heads lying down all messy in a back yard of an art college my ex-wife attended, just like scraps of junk. I photograp ...
W4183
24.05.2011
Green Times Square - Holly Tempo
WWW
Green Times Square Holly Tempo In late 2007, I was invited to participate in Green-er Sessions: Sketching Solutions to Climate Change, an exhibition in which artists, scientists and architects presented solutions for climate change. I submitted a pr ...
Green Times Square Holly Tempo In late 2007, I was invited to participate in Green-er Sessions: Sketching Solutions to Climate Change, an exhibition in which artists, scientists and architects presented solutions for climate change. I submitted a pr ...
W4025
22.05.2011
Guardians of Art  - Holly Crawford
WWW
Proposal: Inside Standing/Conversations with the Guardians of Art Proposed to the Tate Modern, sent to Ben B. I meet and discussed this and screening of Critical Conversations in a Limo. Guardians of Art Museum guards are the human face ...
Proposal: Inside Standing/Conversations with the Guardians of Art Proposed to the Tate Modern, sent to Ben B. I meet and discussed this and screening of Critical Conversations in a Limo. Guardians of Art Museum guards are the human face ...
W4394
25.05.2011
MINILAND MANIFESTO  - Stephen Hobbs
WWW
MINILAND MANIFESTO Ongoing documentation of a number of our coastal cities’ incomplete highway networks has prompted a reading of the space between these structures. Aside from the parking lots and spectacular film settings they provide, they are pe ...
MINILAND MANIFESTO Ongoing documentation of a number of our coastal cities’ incomplete highway networks has prompted a reading of the space between these structures. Aside from the parking lots and spectacular film settings they provide, they are pe ...
W4220
24.05.2011
Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine - Atelier Uraiqat
WWW
Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine Atelier Uraiqat “ The forces of living bodies,..... which exert their energy or force through the production of the new and create, through their efforts, networks, fields, territories that ...
Strayed in Schizophrenic Landscapes of a Celibate Machine Atelier Uraiqat “ The forces of living bodies,..... which exert their energy or force through the production of the new and create, through their efforts, networks, fields, territories that ...
W3870
19.05.2011
Small room of expression - erik mavrič
WWW
Description of the project The idea of the project is making structures that are based on the interference between the flat surface and light source. An intense light will be directed at the surface which will be positioned against the wall. The projec ...
Description of the project The idea of the project is making structures that are based on the interference between the flat surface and light source. An intense light will be directed at the surface which will be positioned against the wall. The projec ...
W4288
24.05.2011
ART DISCOURSE BINGO  - Tina Montenegro
WWW
ART DISCOURSE BINGO (Hi)story This project was thought to be carried out during the 28th Biennial of São Paulo [28ª Bienal de São Paulo], in 2008. The concept of this biennial was consolidated only a year before its opening, after many curators had ...
ART DISCOURSE BINGO (Hi)story This project was thought to be carried out during the 28th Biennial of São Paulo [28ª Bienal de São Paulo], in 2008. The concept of this biennial was consolidated only a year before its opening, after many curators had ...
W5198
03.10.2012
Radiation Limit - Sarah Kanouse
WWW
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
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 ...
W4745
26.05.2011
Solar City Tower for Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics - Rafael Schmidt, RAFAA
WWW
International Architecture Competition for the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. „The project under consideration should be located in the bay of the city of Rio de Janeiro on the Cotonduba Island, which is the obligatory approach for aircraft la ...
International Architecture Competition for the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. „The project under consideration should be located in the bay of the city of Rio de Janeiro on the Cotonduba Island, which is the obligatory approach for aircraft la ...
W4982
27.08.2012
Brian Castellani
WWW
In addition to its pure genius, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is remarkable because it represents, in art history, the rare opportunity for an artist to present to the world a rather complete visual cosmology—something even Michelangelo, due to poli ...
In addition to its pure genius, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is remarkable because it represents, in art history, the rare opportunity for an artist to present to the world a rather complete visual cosmology—something even Michelangelo, due to poli ...
U9282
22.11.1992
Proposal for a permanent video installation for the NYC headquarters of Sony Corporation - Dara Birnbaum
Unbuilt Roads
INSTALLATION DESCRIPTION: At one end of the proposed installation space (main dining area designated for Sony employees), a wall is used to support a video wall or projection screen, which displays a seam-less flow of large-scale images. These large-s ...
INSTALLATION DESCRIPTION: At one end of the proposed installation space (main dining area designated for Sony employees), a wall is used to support a video wall or projection screen, which displays a seam-less flow of large-scale images. These large-s ...
W5309
17.10.2012
Believe Me, It’s not for Real - NaoKo TakaHashi
WWW
This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hypnotised to experience a false memory. Description: This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hyp ...
This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hypnotised to experience a false memory. Description: This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hyp ...
W5305
17.10.2012
Otherhedron - Lucy Pullen, Carolina Trigo
WWW
“Otherhedron is a trip. From pole to pole, the object moves around the world like a pebble rolling gently on the ground. Demarcating locations as nodes or points in the globe that, when joined, trace a plane much like one of the sides of Otherhedron." ...
“Otherhedron is a trip. From pole to pole, the object moves around the world like a pebble rolling gently on the ground. Demarcating locations as nodes or points in the globe that, when joined, trace a plane much like one of the sides of Otherhedron." ...
W4398
25.05.2011
Lars Bergmann
WWW
a project which are unrealized because of the world financial crisis. ...
a project which are unrealized because of the world financial crisis. ...