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

Monument to Democracy - Kounellis

The lmprobable Flow - Larry Bell

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

AUSSICHTSTURM, HOLZHAUS (WOHNHAUS), SCHWIMMBECKEN, FREIE FAHRT - Maria Eichhorn

Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman

Unrealized Turtles 1967 - Joseph Grigely

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

den anonymen Tod ausstellen - Gregor Schneider

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4319
24.05.2011
(Twitter Carrier Pigeon) - seth marshall weiner
WWW
(Social Networking Utilities and the Argument for Physical Space (Twitter Carrier Pigeon) As social networking utilities continue to provide open forums for users to communicate, protest and organize, they lack the necessity for a physical space. T ...
(Social Networking Utilities and the Argument for Physical Space (Twitter Carrier Pigeon) As social networking utilities continue to provide open forums for users to communicate, protest and organize, they lack the necessity for a physical space. T ...
W4374
25.05.2011
Proposal for culture (an interactive installation)  - Thessia Machado
WWW
Proposal for culture (an interactive installation) I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which organisms can perceive their environment and adapt to it — capturing and responding to either images, air vibration, or smells, sounds, flavors, ...
Proposal for culture (an interactive installation) I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which organisms can perceive their environment and adapt to it — capturing and responding to either images, air vibration, or smells, sounds, flavors, ...
W3920
20.05.2011
Sameena Azam
WWW
The idealization of a perceived space is explored through the use of fluid materials. Materials of a liquid consistency have ‘no fixed shape and yield to external pressure’. The use of such materials has enabled for movement to be captured. ...
The idealization of a perceived space is explored through the use of fluid materials. Materials of a liquid consistency have ‘no fixed shape and yield to external pressure’. The use of such materials has enabled for movement to be captured. ...
W4334
24.05.2011
METEORITE AL CONTRARIO (INVERTED METEORITE)  - Davide Bertocchi
WWW
METEORITE AL CONTRARIO (INVERTED METEORITE) - 2011 PROJECT. STONE, SPACE MISSION Courtesy the artist A medium size stone (more or less 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm) is sent into space. Like a meteorite but following an opposite trajectory, that is, inste ...
METEORITE AL CONTRARIO (INVERTED METEORITE) - 2011 PROJECT. STONE, SPACE MISSION Courtesy the artist A medium size stone (more or less 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm) is sent into space. Like a meteorite but following an opposite trajectory, that is, inste ...
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 ...
W3713
17.05.2011
A passage, London 1999 (project, with Sergison Bates architects) - Mark Pimlott
WWW
Sutton-walk is a special place poised between two differently proposed versions or conceptions of London. One is chaotic, the other has an idea of itself as ideal, a fantasy about how London could be. Both are London, both are legitimate, both are produ ...
Sutton-walk is a special place poised between two differently proposed versions or conceptions of London. One is chaotic, the other has an idea of itself as ideal, a fantasy about how London could be. Both are London, both are legitimate, both are produ ...
W4438
25.05.2011
The Sound of the Vision of Ezekiel - Lauren Aston
WWW
The Sound of the Vision of Ezekiel I have created a score from Raphael’s painting The Vision of Ezekiel. The sixteenth century masterpiece has been translated into musical language to the extent that a mass of quavers jostling on the staves of a ...
The Sound of the Vision of Ezekiel I have created a score from Raphael’s painting The Vision of Ezekiel. The sixteenth century masterpiece has been translated into musical language to the extent that a mass of quavers jostling on the staves of a ...
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 ...
W10431
22.04.2014
Digital Lacuna - Nicolas Barrette
WWW
The aim of this project is to offer a new way of perceiving the internet and its influence on the physical environment. WIFI points across the city are mapped in a GIS across the city of Toronto. Where the points of highest density exist, pneumatic dom ...
The aim of this project is to offer a new way of perceiving the internet and its influence on the physical environment. WIFI points across the city are mapped in a GIS across the city of Toronto. Where the points of highest density exist, pneumatic dom ...
W5484
22.10.2012
Missile images - Paul Nulty
WWW
To propose to make a series of photographs made at scheduled demonstrations at the Saab Borfors systems field site in Karlskoga Sweden. Images are to show ground to air missiles such as the RBS 70 and recent RBS 70NG being demonstrated and tested in a ...
To propose to make a series of photographs made at scheduled demonstrations at the Saab Borfors systems field site in Karlskoga Sweden. Images are to show ground to air missiles such as the RBS 70 and recent RBS 70NG being demonstrated and tested in a ...
W5302
17.10.2012
battlefield #56 / sugar - Jerome Leuba
WWW
battlefield #56 / sugar Project description. During the week of Belluard Festival of Fribourg 2010, I proposed to remove and take out the product "sugar" from the sale of the most stores in Fribourg Switzeralnd (Coop, Migros, Denner, grocery stores, ...
battlefield #56 / sugar Project description. During the week of Belluard Festival of Fribourg 2010, I proposed to remove and take out the product "sugar" from the sale of the most stores in Fribourg Switzeralnd (Coop, Migros, Denner, grocery stores, ...
W3912
20.05.2011
"Blue Plaque Portraits" [Working Title] - Jill Chong
WWW
Dear Resident of __________________________________, My name is Jill Chong and I am a second year student of fine art at Goldsmiths College. I am writing to you because I am currently doing a project based on English Heritage’s Blue Plaques scheme. M ...
Dear Resident of __________________________________, My name is Jill Chong and I am a second year student of fine art at Goldsmiths College. I am writing to you because I am currently doing a project based on English Heritage’s Blue Plaques scheme. M ...
W4873
09.08.2012
Forms of Responsibility - Jenny Brown
WWW
Forms of Responsibility • Recent Projects by Jenny Brown Jenny Brown Tied (Melting Ice Sea Creatures), 2006 Video Still Variable Dimensions In early 2005, an elegant gesture of product repatriation was conceived and produced by Jenny Brown as a way of b ...
Forms of Responsibility • Recent Projects by Jenny Brown Jenny Brown Tied (Melting Ice Sea Creatures), 2006 Video Still Variable Dimensions In early 2005, an elegant gesture of product repatriation was conceived and produced by Jenny Brown as a way of b ...
U9731
01.01.1988
Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata
Unbuilt Roads
Please see the enclosed leaflet· "Tower Crane, Paris" (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Financial, technical and organisation problems Previous Publications (?) Enclosed ...
Please see the enclosed leaflet· "Tower Crane, Paris" (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Financial, technical and organisation problems Previous Publications (?) Enclosed ...
W4471
25.05.2011
Marco Montiel-Soto
WWW
Berlín no está en la orilla del mar, esta enredada entre los canales del río Spree y de numerosos lagos a los alrededores, una superficie en movimiento perfecta para un nuevo proyecto de vivienda, un modelo de planificación urbana que sirve para los r ...
Berlín no está en la orilla del mar, esta enredada entre los canales del río Spree y de numerosos lagos a los alrededores, una superficie en movimiento perfecta para un nuevo proyecto de vivienda, un modelo de planificación urbana que sirve para los r ...
W5412
20.10.2012
THE ISLAND PROJECT - Pietro Mele
WWW
PIETRO MELE The Island Project Multimedia project I am going to start a campaign of fund raising so as to purchase the private Island of Budelli* for giving it to the Sardinian Government. Despite the island is part of the highly protected La Madda ...
PIETRO MELE The Island Project Multimedia project I am going to start a campaign of fund raising so as to purchase the private Island of Budelli* for giving it to the Sardinian Government. Despite the island is part of the highly protected La Madda ...
W3893
20.05.2011
The Divina Commedia triptych - Javier Toro Blum
WWW
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. ...
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. ...
W3741
18.05.2011
Phantasmagorie - James Chinneck
WWW
Phantasmagorie will be a large scale multi-sited new media artwork involving a train with no passengers traveling around the United Kingdom after dark, pulling approximately nine carriages. ...
Phantasmagorie will be a large scale multi-sited new media artwork involving a train with no passengers traveling around the United Kingdom after dark, pulling approximately nine carriages. ...
W3766
18.05.2011
francine LeClercq
WWW
image 1: Exit, local law 26, study for an un-threaded stair. image 2: study for spatial composition of laser levels in exhibition space ...
image 1: Exit, local law 26, study for an un-threaded stair. image 2: study for spatial composition of laser levels in exhibition space ...
W3718
17.05.2011
Thomas Koole
WWW
The installation was removed just prior to opening by curator without explanation (space given to another artist) -as the work depended upon viewer interaction for realization it remains un-actuated. Us and Them wood, copper, toy soldiers, red candl ...
The installation was removed just prior to opening by curator without explanation (space given to another artist) -as the work depended upon viewer interaction for realization it remains un-actuated. Us and Them wood, copper, toy soldiers, red candl ...
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 ...
W5338
18.10.2012
Hanínga Thiel
WWW
3 proposals for the Istanbul Biennale: Proposal 1: LOST DIRECTION Some theory first: Do you know the rules and do you know the guidelines? The world has become chaotic. Confusing, mostly because opposing trends such as globalization (the increas ...
3 proposals for the Istanbul Biennale: Proposal 1: LOST DIRECTION Some theory first: Do you know the rules and do you know the guidelines? The world has become chaotic. Confusing, mostly because opposing trends such as globalization (the increas ...
W3619
14.05.2011
Golnar Adili
WWW
A conversation I had years ago with my late father’s friend about the overwhelming energy with which they fought the Shah of Iran has fuled my desire to do a project on my father's life. Elated by the memories, the friend said, "we felt like we were cha ...
A conversation I had years ago with my late father’s friend about the overwhelming energy with which they fought the Shah of Iran has fuled my desire to do a project on my father's life. Elated by the memories, the friend said, "we felt like we were cha ...
W10296
01.01.2010
Industrial Park - Héctor Zamora
WWW
Industrial Park was proposed for 'Touched' the 6th Liverpool Biennial, 2010 Proposed to take place in the Liverpool docks area where new developments are replacing the old port and industry buildings, it is a large scale permanent intervention based on ...
Industrial Park was proposed for 'Touched' the 6th Liverpool Biennial, 2010 Proposed to take place in the Liverpool docks area where new developments are replacing the old port and industry buildings, it is a large scale permanent intervention based on ...
W5408
20.10.2012
MOTHERS _ project - Tiziana Pers
WWW
MOTHERS _ project by Tiziana Pers ‘Mothers’ is a project composed by a series of photographs and an installation. During the ninth month of my pregnancy, one of the last days, I went into the wood, and I started painting my belly with three. ...
MOTHERS _ project by Tiziana Pers ‘Mothers’ is a project composed by a series of photographs and an installation. During the ninth month of my pregnancy, one of the last days, I went into the wood, and I started painting my belly with three. ...
W4597
25.05.2011
"IN MEMORY OF THE (UNKNOWN) VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE". - Alexander Vaindorf
WWW
"IN MEMORY OF THE (UNKNOWN) VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE". Full scale model for the monument in Gyumri, Armenia The work was shown at the Gyumri Biennale 2008 ...
"IN MEMORY OF THE (UNKNOWN) VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE". Full scale model for the monument in Gyumri, Armenia The work was shown at the Gyumri Biennale 2008 ...