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.

The World Record - General Idea

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

The Rosetta Garden - Gary Simmons

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

Projekt für die Landschaft des Mont-de-Sene (Burgund) im Rahmen eines öffentlichen Auftrags des französischen Kultusministeriums - Markus Raetz

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

Douglas Gordon - 5 year drive-by; proposal for a public artwork.

Eight Days a Week - Joe Scanlan

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4917
15.08.2012
Oxford Toilet Exchange - Katie Herzog
WWW
Oxford Toilet Exchange My proposed exchange will be facilitated via the swapping of doors in the stalls of the public toilet at the Oxford University Library with stall doors in the Oxford Public Library. Library Toilet as Final Frontier: On Reject ...
Oxford Toilet Exchange My proposed exchange will be facilitated via the swapping of doors in the stalls of the public toilet at the Oxford University Library with stall doors in the Oxford Public Library. Library Toilet as Final Frontier: On Reject ...
W4049
22.05.2011
Geno project - Leo Morrissey
WWW
Ten years ago in a museum in Milan Italy it was pointed out to me that there was an uncanny resemblance between myself and one of the multitude of Roman marble bust sculptures in the museum… This moment got me thinking about the connections between peop ...
Ten years ago in a museum in Milan Italy it was pointed out to me that there was an uncanny resemblance between myself and one of the multitude of Roman marble bust sculptures in the museum… This moment got me thinking about the connections between peop ...
W3526
11.05.2011
T h e S o l a r E n e r g y F i e l d - Michael Jantzen
WWW
T h e S o l a r E n e r g y F i e l d Michael Jantzen © 2010 www.michaeljantzen.com ​My design inspiration for this alternative energy producing sculpture in the desert, comes from a conceptual symbolic representation of the micro energe ...
T h e S o l a r E n e r g y F i e l d Michael Jantzen © 2010 www.michaeljantzen.com ​My design inspiration for this alternative energy producing sculpture in the desert, comes from a conceptual symbolic representation of the micro energe ...
W5148
23.09.2012
La hora 103 - Albert Negredo
WWW
La hora 103. Mental and/or pencil on paper. ...
La hora 103. Mental and/or pencil on paper. ...
W3909
20.05.2011
Unrealised proposal for Saatchi New Sensations, 2009 - Petra Swais and Najda El-Amriti
WWW
Having worked for three years alongside one another, but never producing work collaboratively, we have come to realise the strong connection between our individual practices. The most prominent link between our works is the notion of manipulation. By mani ...
Having worked for three years alongside one another, but never producing work collaboratively, we have come to realise the strong connection between our individual practices. The most prominent link between our works is the notion of manipulation. By mani ...
W5477
21.10.2012
Wojciech Gilewicz
WWW
With making the described below proposal in the framework of an open call organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (in progress since 2005), I wanted to develop in 2005 in Warsaw public space a project consisting in both revival of Warsaw urban fab ...
With making the described below proposal in the framework of an open call organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (in progress since 2005), I wanted to develop in 2005 in Warsaw public space a project consisting in both revival of Warsaw urban fab ...
W3675
15.05.2011
OmniPhantasmic* - Neil Craver
WWW
OmniPhantasmic* *Omni-             1. A combining form denoting all, every, everywhere; as in omnipotent, all-powerful; omnipresent; omnivorous.  *Phantasmic-          1. Something apparently s ...
OmniPhantasmic* *Omni-             1. A combining form denoting all, every, everywhere; as in omnipotent, all-powerful; omnipresent; omnivorous.  *Phantasmic-          1. Something apparently s ...
W5467
21.10.2012
L.R. Faigeles
WWW
For the previous eight months, I spent my time living, working and studying in Berlin. In addition, I traveled to London, Prague, Venice and Paris. Much of my time was spent studying the history of the various cities and how that history has in effect s ...
For the previous eight months, I spent my time living, working and studying in Berlin. In addition, I traveled to London, Prague, Venice and Paris. Much of my time was spent studying the history of the various cities and how that history has in effect s ...
W4589
25.05.2011
Joseph Moore
WWW
I hear words, half spoken words, and weeping both melodious and in staccato. Hands clap to the rhythm of music. A young man runs laps around the perimeter of the church’s large nave. There is the sound of voices that approach language albeit an incompl ...
I hear words, half spoken words, and weeping both melodious and in staccato. Hands clap to the rhythm of music. A young man runs laps around the perimeter of the church’s large nave. There is the sound of voices that approach language albeit an incompl ...
U9711
01.01.1989
2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin
Unbuilt Roads
A competition won in 1989 Tower One: was proposed to sit in a roundabout next to the Chicago river .. 65' (feet) in height, the base an octagonal cast iron construction stands on a slightly mounded cast rubber base ... eight triangular beams thrust upw ...
A competition won in 1989 Tower One: was proposed to sit in a roundabout next to the Chicago river .. 65' (feet) in height, the base an octagonal cast iron construction stands on a slightly mounded cast rubber base ... eight triangular beams thrust upw ...
W5284
16.10.2012
Natalia Ludmila
WWW
The project was based on the realisation of a certain number of dérives throughout the city-state of Singapore, in which an extensive visual and sound documentation would be carried out. This material consecutively was to be used to reconstruct the ci ...
The project was based on the realisation of a certain number of dérives throughout the city-state of Singapore, in which an extensive visual and sound documentation would be carried out. This material consecutively was to be used to reconstruct the ci ...
U9983
01.01.1994
To Two Too; Hypothetical Monument for a Natural Disaster - Jeffrey Wisniewski
Unbuilt Roads
(222) steel, wire mesh containers, 'gitter boxes', half filled with architectural and cultural debris with other miscellaneous rubble (22) solar panels with battery bank, etc. (solar system) (6) LCD video projectors; video and live television broad ...
(222) steel, wire mesh containers, 'gitter boxes', half filled with architectural and cultural debris with other miscellaneous rubble (22) solar panels with battery bank, etc. (solar system) (6) LCD video projectors; video and live television broad ...
W4858
08.08.2012
Interacting Products - Dan Riley
WWW
Interacting Products Interacting Products is an art installation consisting of two products that interact with eachother and an optional third party interacting with one of the products. The first product is a 909 drum machine which features a clap sou ...
Interacting Products Interacting Products is an art installation consisting of two products that interact with eachother and an optional third party interacting with one of the products. The first product is a 909 drum machine which features a clap sou ...
W4480
25.05.2011
Laura Stein
WWW
I was working with a pyrotechnics specialist to develop shaped fire sculptures. We were working on building gas flame fueled armatures to define the form. AS the costs grew the project was put on the back burner after 6+ months of work and research! ...
I was working with a pyrotechnics specialist to develop shaped fire sculptures. We were working on building gas flame fueled armatures to define the form. AS the costs grew the project was put on the back burner after 6+ months of work and research! ...
U9263
01.01.1974
CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten
Unbuilt Roads
Einige Überlegungen zur Emblematik von Ansichtskarten. Abgebildete Sehenswürdigkeiten gelangen auf Ansichtskarten durch die häufig gewählte Zentralperspektive in die Nähe ausgestellter Backwaren. Die siegelhaft stilisierte Heraldik, eines immer wiede ...
Einige Überlegungen zur Emblematik von Ansichtskarten. Abgebildete Sehenswürdigkeiten gelangen auf Ansichtskarten durch die häufig gewählte Zentralperspektive in die Nähe ausgestellter Backwaren. Die siegelhaft stilisierte Heraldik, eines immer wiede ...
W4080
23.05.2011
Photorécepteurs - Kasia Ozga
WWW
Description du Projet – Photorécepteurs Pour le projet participatif, Photorécepteurs, je souhaite travailler sur des images en grand format des yeux des habitants de la Ville de _________. Un photorécepteur peut désigner un neurone sensoriel sens ...
Description du Projet – Photorécepteurs Pour le projet participatif, Photorécepteurs, je souhaite travailler sur des images en grand format des yeux des habitants de la Ville de _________. Un photorécepteur peut désigner un neurone sensoriel sens ...
W5262
13.10.2012
Seeing the Unseen - Maria Paschalidou
WWW
maria Paschalidou artist, art professor www.mariapaschalidou.com paschalmari@yahoo.com Athens, October 13, 2012 Seeing the Unseen Seeing the Unseen is an ongoing project of tracing the ‘unseen’, the most invisible and/or unobserved sites of an ...
maria Paschalidou artist, art professor www.mariapaschalidou.com paschalmari@yahoo.com Athens, October 13, 2012 Seeing the Unseen Seeing the Unseen is an ongoing project of tracing the ‘unseen’, the most invisible and/or unobserved sites of an ...
W5345
18.10.2012
Lisa Bateman
WWW
An installation of public smell (ocean, brine, tar, old fish) -housed inside an abandoned parking shack at the site of the old Fulton Fish Market, NYC. Smell is emitted from a DMX HVAC scent through the fence and into public space. ...
An installation of public smell (ocean, brine, tar, old fish) -housed inside an abandoned parking shack at the site of the old Fulton Fish Market, NYC. Smell is emitted from a DMX HVAC scent through the fence and into public space. ...
W4434
25.05.2011
Untitled - Paul-Armand Gette
WWW
Paul-Armand Gette Untitled Project for the wood of sculptures of Vassivière island, France July 1991 On the top of a forest area behind the Centre international d’art et du paysage A block of granite chosen in the wooden part of Vassivière is ...
Paul-Armand Gette Untitled Project for the wood of sculptures of Vassivière island, France July 1991 On the top of a forest area behind the Centre international d’art et du paysage A block of granite chosen in the wooden part of Vassivière is ...
D10806
01.01.2008
A Play in Three Acts - Bethan Huws
DAAD
To find three existing flower shops in a relatively large town. The first would be tightly categorised: red roses; pink roses; white lilies, etc. The second would be less so. And the third would resemble something from nature (like many ...
To find three existing flower shops in a relatively large town. The first would be tightly categorised: red roses; pink roses; white lilies, etc. The second would be less so. And the third would resemble something from nature (like many ...
W3899
20.05.2011
SIN TITULO - Daniela Huerta
WWW
SIN TITULO Nails, wall, dust and red thread. Dimensions variable 2010 This is a project that perhaps was never intended to be realized. It was rather an action and a documentation of it. The beginning and the end is the wall, as it works as a state ...
SIN TITULO Nails, wall, dust and red thread. Dimensions variable 2010 This is a project that perhaps was never intended to be realized. It was rather an action and a documentation of it. The beginning and the end is the wall, as it works as a state ...
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 ...
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 ...
W5035
31.08.2012
Firstandlast - Heikki Salo
WWW
Firstandlast was submitted to ISEA 04 in Helsinki. The installation consists of a series of artificial worlds, ranging from videoscapes to fully abstract spaces (e.g. from natural landscapes to fractal universes) that represent the development of a fic ...
Firstandlast was submitted to ISEA 04 in Helsinki. The installation consists of a series of artificial worlds, ranging from videoscapes to fully abstract spaces (e.g. from natural landscapes to fractal universes) that represent the development of a fic ...
W4453
25.05.2011
Myopian fields - Stephanie Gerner
WWW
Myopian fields , proposal (2010) This exhibition uses the notion of a virtual landscape as its structural foundation, materialised as a small theatre set or abstract film studio, playing with our conceptions of the natural and the man-made, the environ ...
Myopian fields , proposal (2010) This exhibition uses the notion of a virtual landscape as its structural foundation, materialised as a small theatre set or abstract film studio, playing with our conceptions of the natural and the man-made, the environ ...
W4895
10.08.2012
CayucoTours - Ralph Kistler
WWW
Project Name: CayucoTours Artist: Ralph Kistler Email: check-in@subtours.com Webpage: http://www.subtours.com CayucoTours was a selected project for the 3.Biennale of the Canary Islands that ...
Project Name: CayucoTours Artist: Ralph Kistler Email: check-in@subtours.com Webpage: http://www.subtours.com CayucoTours was a selected project for the 3.Biennale of the Canary Islands that ...