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.

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

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

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

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

Entwurf für einen erneuerten Malkasten 1992 - 1994 - Ulrike Holthöfer

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum

Isometric Projection - Sol Lewitt

Project pour le parc de sculpture de Vassiviére - Paul-Armand Gette

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3907
20.05.2011
Alan Yates
WWW
As Contemporary art exhibitions develop towards a multiplicity of practises and genres, many are being used for urban regeneration and environmental projects. In this new landscape I wish to lead on initiatives to re-shape the urban landscape to incorpora ...
As Contemporary art exhibitions develop towards a multiplicity of practises and genres, many are being used for urban regeneration and environmental projects. In this new landscape I wish to lead on initiatives to re-shape the urban landscape to incorpora ...
W4006
22.05.2011
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come - Panajachel Biennial (Guatemala): "Shared Sensorium: Assemblages of Love, Labor and Politics"
WWW
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come The Panajachel Biennial was an initiative by a group of young independent curators (Karl Escher, Abbas Ibn Salah al Din, Guillermo Santamarina, Joao Castro da Silva y Takouhi Abesalom) who co ...
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come The Panajachel Biennial was an initiative by a group of young independent curators (Karl Escher, Abbas Ibn Salah al Din, Guillermo Santamarina, Joao Castro da Silva y Takouhi Abesalom) who co ...
W5181
29.09.2012
Binary Kruno - Kruno Jost
WWW
COMPUTER GENERATED ARTISTS /// under construction - working name BinaryKruno WHAT: Binary Kruno (BK) is a critique of the system of artistic production in modern times. The project aims to discover through research whether approaches to funding artistic ...
COMPUTER GENERATED ARTISTS /// under construction - working name BinaryKruno WHAT: Binary Kruno (BK) is a critique of the system of artistic production in modern times. The project aims to discover through research whether approaches to funding artistic ...
W5415
20.10.2012
Process - Aglae Cortés
WWW
Process Landscape as the primary space entity appreciation. Abstracting the main elements like the horizon, the accumulation of matter. There are a play on the scale, and light elements to reveal landscapes that remain invisible in the everyday. The ...
Process Landscape as the primary space entity appreciation. Abstracting the main elements like the horizon, the accumulation of matter. There are a play on the scale, and light elements to reveal landscapes that remain invisible in the everyday. The ...
W4581
25.05.2011
Oasis Project Proposal  - Carrie Paterson
WWW
Image 1 Oasis Project Proposal circa 2002-2004 Drawings show a device for water collection, condensation, and purification connected by ‘stem’ to an underground storage tank, accessed via a tap that operates with a pressure pump to retrieve wate ...
Image 1 Oasis Project Proposal circa 2002-2004 Drawings show a device for water collection, condensation, and purification connected by ‘stem’ to an underground storage tank, accessed via a tap that operates with a pressure pump to retrieve wate ...
W4249
24.05.2011
Experiment 11 (Scheme for ensuring posterity) - Aylwin Greenwood-Lambert
WWW
Introduction to Experiment 11 (Scheme for ensuring posterity) Experiment 11 was a project based around the idea of attempting to ensure my posterity via the production of time capsules containing evidence that would give those discovering them the impr ...
Introduction to Experiment 11 (Scheme for ensuring posterity) Experiment 11 was a project based around the idea of attempting to ensure my posterity via the production of time capsules containing evidence that would give those discovering them the impr ...
W4938
19.08.2012
You Are Here - Silvio Valpreda
WWW
Silvio Valpreda impossible art project YOU ARE HERE Kibera - Nairobi (Kenya) Statements Slum A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UNHABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking i ...
Silvio Valpreda impossible art project YOU ARE HERE Kibera - Nairobi (Kenya) Statements Slum A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UNHABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking i ...
W4616
25.05.2011
Unrealized project no. 09: Further Development or To Be in an Endless State of Flux - Ruben Aubrecht
WWW
Unrealized project no. 09: Further Development or To Be in an Endless State of Flux The work takes up the incessant developments in social, political and scientific matters and transfers this idea of a never-ending process allegorically onto buildings ...
Unrealized project no. 09: Further Development or To Be in an Endless State of Flux The work takes up the incessant developments in social, political and scientific matters and transfers this idea of a never-ending process allegorically onto buildings ...
W5048
03.09.2012
Unrealized Poster - Robert Linsley
WWW
Unrealized project for a poster, circa 2002. FORWARD UNDER THE BANNER OF THE EXECUTIVE DAEMON! ALL POWER TO THE OTHER DAEMONS! EAST VAN RULES! ...
Unrealized project for a poster, circa 2002. FORWARD UNDER THE BANNER OF THE EXECUTIVE DAEMON! ALL POWER TO THE OTHER DAEMONS! EAST VAN RULES! ...
W4439
25.05.2011
Maria Over Mount Athos - Maria Papadimitriou
WWW
By Jennifer Allen Maria Over Mount Athos A hot air balloon floats silently over Mount Athos... Not just any balloon but one carrying an image of Maria's face. Much to the surprise of the monks living on the peninsula, the face does not belong to th ...
By Jennifer Allen Maria Over Mount Athos A hot air balloon floats silently over Mount Athos... Not just any balloon but one carrying an image of Maria's face. Much to the surprise of the monks living on the peninsula, the face does not belong to th ...
W5483
22.10.2012
How much spices? - Mirna Arsovska
WWW
International İstanbul Biennial Proposal for interactive installation “How much spices?” by Mirna Arsovska A: TEHNICAL DESCRIPTION 1. Exhibition space Large enough space / hall, separated in tree colored segments: black, grey, white 2. O ...
International İstanbul Biennial Proposal for interactive installation “How much spices?” by Mirna Arsovska A: TEHNICAL DESCRIPTION 1. Exhibition space Large enough space / hall, separated in tree colored segments: black, grey, white 2. O ...
W4044
22.05.2011
Annie Wu & Ziga Testen
WWW
The project we have in mind begins with a little anecdote. Upon a chance meeting with Australian geometric abstraction painter John Nixon (1949) in the Netherlands, a thorough conversation revolving around a discontinued line of an Ikea table was brought ...
The project we have in mind begins with a little anecdote. Upon a chance meeting with Australian geometric abstraction painter John Nixon (1949) in the Netherlands, a thorough conversation revolving around a discontinued line of an Ikea table was brought ...
W4966
22.08.2012
Bed-line - Efi Spyrou
WWW
Efi’s video “bed-line” invites us to mentally traverse a sterile, claustrophobic environment that includes more than one single spatial dimension in its space and more than one single temporal dimension in time. It emanates the energy of the absent, ...
Efi’s video “bed-line” invites us to mentally traverse a sterile, claustrophobic environment that includes more than one single spatial dimension in its space and more than one single temporal dimension in time. It emanates the energy of the absent, ...
W4606
25.05.2011
“LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE” - Maria Dundakova
WWW
MARIA DUNDAKOVA © PROJECT “LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE”- SOLSTICE Theme: Art and Environment. Landscape interacting between natural event and social event 1995 Luxembourg, European Capital of Culture, Valley of the Corn ...
MARIA DUNDAKOVA © PROJECT “LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE”- SOLSTICE Theme: Art and Environment. Landscape interacting between natural event and social event 1995 Luxembourg, European Capital of Culture, Valley of the Corn ...
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 ...
W4231
24.05.2011
"Sand Uproar, Sand Glass” - Orit Ishay
WWW
"Sand Uproar, Sand Glass” Orit Ishay Tel-Aviv city, also called "the white city", has recently celebrated a 100 years to its establishment. According to conventional public narrative, this is a city that was raised on pure sands, unlike other place ...
"Sand Uproar, Sand Glass” Orit Ishay Tel-Aviv city, also called "the white city", has recently celebrated a 100 years to its establishment. According to conventional public narrative, this is a city that was raised on pure sands, unlike other place ...
W4115
23.05.2011
Tropical Grotesque - Lara Stein Pardo
WWW
Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. Contact: Jennifer Tisthammer Artist: Lara Stein Pardo Project Summary Funding from the Harpo Foundation will be used to support an artist residency at the Deering Estate and the production of a new body of work by artist ...
Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. Contact: Jennifer Tisthammer Artist: Lara Stein Pardo Project Summary Funding from the Harpo Foundation will be used to support an artist residency at the Deering Estate and the production of a new body of work by artist ...
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 ...
W4604
25.05.2011
Ideas as falling light energy for a day - Karen Roulstone
WWW
Ideas as falling light energy for a day These sample works are from the start of a project which aims were to attempt to map thought processes connected to ideas which can never be fully resolved. The plan was to map ideas diagrammatically as falling l ...
Ideas as falling light energy for a day These sample works are from the start of a project which aims were to attempt to map thought processes connected to ideas which can never be fully resolved. The plan was to map ideas diagrammatically as falling l ...
W5306
17.10.2012
cat.rais - Jake Morton
WWW
AUP : Agency for un-realised projects : submission : 1.0 The A.U.P. - Agency for un-realised projects - open call invitation states: 1.1 “Though the state of being unrealized implies the potential for realization, not all projects are intended to ...
AUP : Agency for un-realised projects : submission : 1.0 The A.U.P. - Agency for un-realised projects - open call invitation states: 1.1 “Though the state of being unrealized implies the potential for realization, not all projects are intended to ...
U9752
01.01.1997
The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong
Unbuilt Roads
round bridge in the middle of the sea to be approached by boat ...
round bridge in the middle of the sea to be approached by boat ...
W5367
19.10.2012
STATIC REVOLVER - Jessie Stead
WWW
Known for bad food but impressive panoramas, hundreds of revolving restaurants rotate imperceptibly on oversized turntables high above cities worldwide. This unrealized project is an experimental motion picture. ...
Known for bad food but impressive panoramas, hundreds of revolving restaurants rotate imperceptibly on oversized turntables high above cities worldwide. This unrealized project is an experimental motion picture. ...
W5383
19.10.2012
Dorit Feldman, Orna Oren Izraeli and Na
WWW
Unrealized Project – Dorit Feldman, Orna Oren Izraeli and Na’ama Zussman This is a proposal that suggests a unique practice of the library, on its books, ephemera and other objects of use, as if they were surfaces. The exhibition is suggested to t ...
Unrealized Project – Dorit Feldman, Orna Oren Izraeli and Na’ama Zussman This is a proposal that suggests a unique practice of the library, on its books, ephemera and other objects of use, as if they were surfaces. The exhibition is suggested to t ...
W5164
25.09.2012
E-Motion Pictures - Ron Weijers
WWW
The ‘E-Motion Pictures’ project by the Dutch multi-disciplinary artist Ron Weijers, one could review as a series of mixed media video works that are only present in a specific set space and time – as opposed to his regular mixed-media paintings whic ...
The ‘E-Motion Pictures’ project by the Dutch multi-disciplinary artist Ron Weijers, one could review as a series of mixed media video works that are only present in a specific set space and time – as opposed to his regular mixed-media paintings whic ...
W4672
26.05.2011
Neural Portal - Stephen Pusey
WWW
Neural Portal Transient installation on 26th Street, West Chelsea, NYC Artist: Stephen Pusey The image would be created by high intensity pulses of light emitted from hundreds of lasers embedded in the frame. The effect is to create a warping field tha ...
Neural Portal Transient installation on 26th Street, West Chelsea, NYC Artist: Stephen Pusey The image would be created by high intensity pulses of light emitted from hundreds of lasers embedded in the frame. The effect is to create a warping field tha ...
W5206
03.10.2012
12 x 12 - Georgia Kotretsos
WWW
Originally submitted to the 12 x 12 Project Space at the MCA in Chicago in 2003/04. The submitted images are showing the model book made for the demonstrative needs of the project. The size of the model book is H 6 x W 4,5 x 1, 5 cm and it pops-up /unfol ...
Originally submitted to the 12 x 12 Project Space at the MCA in Chicago in 2003/04. The submitted images are showing the model book made for the demonstrative needs of the project. The size of the model book is H 6 x W 4,5 x 1, 5 cm and it pops-up /unfol ...