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.

2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

"400" - Manfred Pernice

Fax Transmission - Raymond Pettibone and Jason Rhoades

den anonymen Tod ausstellen - Gregor Schneider

Monument to Democracy - Kounellis

Billboard - Jimmie Durham

Right-of-Privacy Release - Tony Oursler

The World Record - General Idea

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3629
14.05.2011
Central Park Monument to the Nimbus of Victory, 2009 - Peter Joslyn
WWW
The monument is one of a series of proposals for large scale public sculptures to celebrate the visionary nature of the artist. The aim is to bring to the world an understanding of the artists point of view by providing the spectacular, and by sharing the ...
The monument is one of a series of proposals for large scale public sculptures to celebrate the visionary nature of the artist. The aim is to bring to the world an understanding of the artists point of view by providing the spectacular, and by sharing the ...
W5339
18.10.2012
Form Follows Life - Heidi Schatzl
WWW
Form follows life intervention in public : STANDBILD – STILLSTAND? Reiterstandbilder sind eine weltweite Darstellungsform im öffentlichen Raum. Das meist Heerführern und Herrschern vorbehaltene Reiterstandbild - ein Rückgriff auf die Antik ...
Form follows life intervention in public : STANDBILD – STILLSTAND? Reiterstandbilder sind eine weltweite Darstellungsform im öffentlichen Raum. Das meist Heerführern und Herrschern vorbehaltene Reiterstandbild - ein Rückgriff auf die Antik ...
W4387
25.05.2011
Pristine Project - Andrea Röpke
WWW
Research proposal Andrea Röpke - Pristine Project 2008 - In February this year the Kontekst gallery in Belgrade opened the Exhibition "Exception" of works by young Kosovar Albanian artists. The exhibition came to my attention through a Belgrade-bas ...
Research proposal Andrea Röpke - Pristine Project 2008 - In February this year the Kontekst gallery in Belgrade opened the Exhibition "Exception" of works by young Kosovar Albanian artists. The exhibition came to my attention through a Belgrade-bas ...
W5068
05.09.2012
White Blood Cells - Bodino Philippe
WWW
multi-artistic performance uses several field such as live painting, video, dance, live music, improvisation. ...
multi-artistic performance uses several field such as live painting, video, dance, live music, improvisation. ...
W4619
25.05.2011
Fly me to outer space  - Spiros Hadjidjanos
WWW
Fly me to outer space This project explores new power relations between a networked public and the artist as well as the process of funding an artwork through crowdfunding to its extreme. The idea of this project is a journey to outer space with the for ...
Fly me to outer space This project explores new power relations between a networked public and the artist as well as the process of funding an artwork through crowdfunding to its extreme. The idea of this project is a journey to outer space with the for ...
W5131
19.09.2012
Gods Acre - Leo Morrissey
WWW
Project: gods acre Each day I walk to work I walk through God’s Acre, a Moravian cemetery. The section of the cemetery I walk through is where the women and men are buried. An important part of the Moravian burial practice is that individuals ar ...
Project: gods acre Each day I walk to work I walk through God’s Acre, a Moravian cemetery. The section of the cemetery I walk through is where the women and men are buried. An important part of the Moravian burial practice is that individuals ar ...
W5112
16.09.2012
The Cactus Room - Javier Tapia
WWW
THE CAUCUS ROOM Project proposal for OVERGADEN By Javier Tapia The authentic moment of discovery, the breakthrough, occurs when a properly universal dimension explodes from within a particular context and becomes “for itself”, and is directly ex ...
THE CAUCUS ROOM Project proposal for OVERGADEN By Javier Tapia The authentic moment of discovery, the breakthrough, occurs when a properly universal dimension explodes from within a particular context and becomes “for itself”, and is directly ex ...
W5208
04.10.2012
Lure - Noa Nahari
WWW
Noa Nahari Name: Lure Year: 2013/4 Neo Marxism claims the media are a tool to handle capitalistic power that wishes to exploit the working class to earn more money. For example, communication channels will produce programs that specifically attract a ...
Noa Nahari Name: Lure Year: 2013/4 Neo Marxism claims the media are a tool to handle capitalistic power that wishes to exploit the working class to earn more money. For example, communication channels will produce programs that specifically attract a ...
W4766
29.05.2011
Joanna Grasso
WWW
Take all paintings out of octagonal red room in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Leave homo-erotic sculptures of men in battle, also keep large gold gilded frames. Replace canvases with flat screen video monitors that display footage recorded from Tuscan tree ...
Take all paintings out of octagonal red room in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Leave homo-erotic sculptures of men in battle, also keep large gold gilded frames. Replace canvases with flat screen video monitors that display footage recorded from Tuscan tree ...
W4939
19.08.2012
Horizontal Fall - Julia Davis
WWW
JULIA DAVIS 2012 Unrealized Project: HORIZONTAL FALL 13 minute HD Video, Four channel surround sound A ten-minute video shot in the restricted access area of the Wieliczka Salt mine in Poland 2009 is projected in a 3.5m diameter area on the floor o ...
JULIA DAVIS 2012 Unrealized Project: HORIZONTAL FALL 13 minute HD Video, Four channel surround sound A ten-minute video shot in the restricted access area of the Wieliczka Salt mine in Poland 2009 is projected in a 3.5m diameter area on the floor o ...
W3618
14.05.2011
jason lazarus
WWW
I have started an archive of impossible art ideas. The archive, when exhibited, is a digitally projected slide show, projected on a small white wooden cube sitting on the floor of the exhibition space. ...
I have started an archive of impossible art ideas. The archive, when exhibited, is a digitally projected slide show, projected on a small white wooden cube sitting on the floor of the exhibition space. ...
W11050
01.06.2016
B R E A T H E - Acrylicize
WWW
‘Breathe’ intrinsically tells the unique story about the new St Mary’s Square Development, reflecting its past and celebrating the character of the area. This forward thinking modern artistic sculpture is artistically progressive in nature. It creat ...
‘Breathe’ intrinsically tells the unique story about the new St Mary’s Square Development, reflecting its past and celebrating the character of the area. This forward thinking modern artistic sculpture is artistically progressive in nature. It creat ...
W5126
18.09.2012
Porn I (Zootropo - Juan Alvarez-Durán
WWW
Porn (Part One) ‐ Zoetrope Continually subvert the function of the machine Nan Yun Paik There is a natural sense of the world, but those ways that men have given their perceptions. Jean Mitry The dictionary defines zoetrope. (Zoo‐and gr. Τρόπος ...
Porn (Part One) ‐ Zoetrope Continually subvert the function of the machine Nan Yun Paik There is a natural sense of the world, but those ways that men have given their perceptions. Jean Mitry The dictionary defines zoetrope. (Zoo‐and gr. Τρόπος ...
W4279
24.05.2011
"Mr. Quixote"  - AGGTELEK
WWW
Monument of 50 meters high rehearsing a new "Don Quixote" titled "Mr. Quixote". "Mr. Quixote" tells the story of the adventures of Mr. Quixote through the 21st century through the vision of a geek. ...
Monument of 50 meters high rehearsing a new "Don Quixote" titled "Mr. Quixote". "Mr. Quixote" tells the story of the adventures of Mr. Quixote through the 21st century through the vision of a geek. ...
W4371
25.05.2011
leak - Thessia Machado
WWW
leak A rumination on transmutation, language, the experience of time, death and the joys of apartment living. Installation with 12.5 gallons of water (equivalent to my weight), vinyl, sheetrock, camera, computer running max/msp/jitter, monitor and ...
leak A rumination on transmutation, language, the experience of time, death and the joys of apartment living. Installation with 12.5 gallons of water (equivalent to my weight), vinyl, sheetrock, camera, computer running max/msp/jitter, monitor and ...
W5203
03.10.2012
Blueprint - Peter J Hoffmeister
WWW
With the “Blueprint” series I seek to draw a new experience from the blueprint, something not normally considered for artistic purposes. My process utilizes the cyanotype print, which was the process first used to make modern blueprints beginning in. ...
With the “Blueprint” series I seek to draw a new experience from the blueprint, something not normally considered for artistic purposes. My process utilizes the cyanotype print, which was the process first used to make modern blueprints beginning in. ...
W4095
23.05.2011
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013 - Stefano W. Pasquini
WWW
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013. As the political times have changed after 911, even my Unrealizeable Projects reflected this change. This one plays with the difficulties foreigners face when trying to move to the United States nowadays. ...
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013. As the political times have changed after 911, even my Unrealizeable Projects reflected this change. This one plays with the difficulties foreigners face when trying to move to the United States nowadays. ...
W3509
11.05.2011
I gave you this picture because I was afraid you might forget me - Yvonne O'Reilly
WWW
CORNERHOUSE MICRO COMMISSIONS - (a site specific proposal) 'I gave you this picture because I was afraid you might forget me.' About your idea: What is your idea? The location – the CORNERHOUSE would provide me with the opportunity to create a ...
CORNERHOUSE MICRO COMMISSIONS - (a site specific proposal) 'I gave you this picture because I was afraid you might forget me.' About your idea: What is your idea? The location – the CORNERHOUSE would provide me with the opportunity to create a ...
W3515
11.05.2011
Serpentine Project - CLEMENT PRICE-THOMAS
WWW
THE SERPENTINE PROJECT Project Brief Pre Proposal “Physics has found no strait lines - it’s only found waves. Physics has found no solids – only high frequency event fields. The universe is not conforming to a three dimensional perpendicula ...
THE SERPENTINE PROJECT Project Brief Pre Proposal “Physics has found no strait lines - it’s only found waves. Physics has found no solids – only high frequency event fields. The universe is not conforming to a three dimensional perpendicula ...
W5395
20.10.2012
Frontier Monument - Kasper Kovitz
WWW
"I love those who do not wish to preserve themselves; the down-going ones do I love with mine entire love, for they go beyond" Frontier Monument (alternative title: Witchbunker) is the second in a series of public monuments on which I have been ...
"I love those who do not wish to preserve themselves; the down-going ones do I love with mine entire love, for they go beyond" Frontier Monument (alternative title: Witchbunker) is the second in a series of public monuments on which I have been ...
W4457
25.05.2011
Bamboo Treehouse Project summary  - Suwan Laimanee
WWW
Bamboo Treehouse Project summary Bamboo Treehouse is a site-specific performance intended to provide an inspirational example of sustainable living to both the local and global population alike. The project is an ongoing interactive experiment, explorin ...
Bamboo Treehouse Project summary Bamboo Treehouse is a site-specific performance intended to provide an inspirational example of sustainable living to both the local and global population alike. The project is an ongoing interactive experiment, explorin ...
W4476
25.05.2011
MEGAPHONE: The New Wireless - Elizabeth McTernan
WWW
MEGAPHONE: The New Wireless An extension of my ongoing performance project "The Satellites Are Dust, the Phone Lines Are Down, the Postal Service Is Bankrupt" (a post-apocalyptic romance of sorts), I propose erecting a telephone pole crowned with a gre ...
MEGAPHONE: The New Wireless An extension of my ongoing performance project "The Satellites Are Dust, the Phone Lines Are Down, the Postal Service Is Bankrupt" (a post-apocalyptic romance of sorts), I propose erecting a telephone pole crowned with a gre ...
W5453
20.10.2012
ñaña - Pablo David Rojas Mencias
WWW
Pablo David Rojas Mencias Kohlfurterstrasse 1, Berlin 10999 dadafoto@gmail.com Project Name: “ñaña” This project couldn’t be finished due to the fact that “ñaña” has passed away. In the native american language, quechua, “ñaña ...
Pablo David Rojas Mencias Kohlfurterstrasse 1, Berlin 10999 dadafoto@gmail.com Project Name: “ñaña” This project couldn’t be finished due to the fact that “ñaña” has passed away. In the native american language, quechua, “ñaña ...
W4102
23.05.2011
IMNOW (I-aM-NOW) - Shlomit Lehavi
WWW
IMNOW is an emergent identity composed of digital footprints across major social media platforms that challenges and explores current definitions of space (public vs. private, physical vs. virtual,) and time, with regard to contemporary notions of friends ...
IMNOW is an emergent identity composed of digital footprints across major social media platforms that challenges and explores current definitions of space (public vs. private, physical vs. virtual,) and time, with regard to contemporary notions of friends ...
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 ...
W3963
21.05.2011
LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP - Agnes Bolt
WWW
Long Distance Relationship For the exhibition, I am proposing to run a series of 100ft long connected extension cords powered from my studio (the creative place of production) to the exhibition space 2.2 miles away. The energy it takes to sustain so ...
Long Distance Relationship For the exhibition, I am proposing to run a series of 100ft long connected extension cords powered from my studio (the creative place of production) to the exhibition space 2.2 miles away. The energy it takes to sustain so ...