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.

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

MODELL OF AN OFFICE FOR A COUPLE OF TWINS, BOTH 1,38 TALL" - Tobias Rehrenberg

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

Project tor the Veterans Administration Hospital--Bay Pines, Florida. - Robert Morris

Relatum (Iron Plate and Stone) - Lee Ufan

WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum

The Clock - Ayse Erkmen

d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. - Christian Boltanski

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
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 ...
W4669
25.05.2011
IPIRANGA  - Balam Bartolomé
WWW
IPIRANGA A project by Balam Bartolomé Porfirio Díaz was the president of Mexico for over 30 years. He was overthrew by the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and sent to exile in France. During his dictatorship, in 1904, the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Ar ...
IPIRANGA A project by Balam Bartolomé Porfirio Díaz was the president of Mexico for over 30 years. He was overthrew by the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and sent to exile in France. During his dictatorship, in 1904, the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Ar ...
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 ...
W5749
22.04.2013
"Blinded Fish" - Jeane Doucas
WWW
a dance-theatre performance, based in Butoh aesthetics. The theme: the schizophrenia and the blindness we live in our day life. These photos were photographed during a rehearsal, in 2011. ...
a dance-theatre performance, based in Butoh aesthetics. The theme: the schizophrenia and the blindness we live in our day life. These photos were photographed during a rehearsal, in 2011. ...
W10336
18.04.2014
VISION for a new PUBLIC SCHOOL - Stijn Ank
WWW
The project space is a public secondary school in a suburban area north-west of Brussels. It's an academy of visual arts, but to many pupils, most of whom have had a troublesome school career, the school is a refuge where they can retrieve their inquisiti ...
The project space is a public secondary school in a suburban area north-west of Brussels. It's an academy of visual arts, but to many pupils, most of whom have had a troublesome school career, the school is a refuge where they can retrieve their inquisiti ...
W3566
12.05.2011
Lisa Gorton
WWW
Two images taken in a pristine gallery space. Meant to act as a catalyst for an investigation into space, place and the role of the body within this. Tried to do a performance but became much more about being ‘alive’ rather than ‘live’. ...
Two images taken in a pristine gallery space. Meant to act as a catalyst for an investigation into space, place and the role of the body within this. Tried to do a performance but became much more about being ‘alive’ rather than ‘live’. ...
W4169
24.05.2011
Apocalypse Wave  - Mitya Nesterov & Lera Nibiru
WWW
Apocalypse Wave On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, Haiti and its capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation was horrible, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated ...
Apocalypse Wave On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, Haiti and its capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation was horrible, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated ...
W4145
23.05.2011
This England - Cornford & Cross
WWW
For the Times/Artangel commissions, we proposed to build a 50-metre section of concrete ‘flyover’ in Green Park, London. Emerging from the trees would have been an imposing and apparently purposeful structure, a sweeping arc supported on tall piers. Y ...
For the Times/Artangel commissions, we proposed to build a 50-metre section of concrete ‘flyover’ in Green Park, London. Emerging from the trees would have been an imposing and apparently purposeful structure, a sweeping arc supported on tall piers. Y ...
W5011
30.08.2012
My Clothes Cost 1 $ - Patricia Jacomella
WWW
.................................................................................................................................... patricia jacomella bonola Projekt Work in Progress 2007 - 2012 My Clothes Cost 1 $ 365 Dollar-Banknote mit Häkel ...
.................................................................................................................................... patricia jacomella bonola Projekt Work in Progress 2007 - 2012 My Clothes Cost 1 $ 365 Dollar-Banknote mit Häkel ...
W4100
23.05.2011
YOU[bahn]TUBE  - GH Hovagimyan
WWW
When we go down into the subway there is always in the back of our minds a series of film clips playing. These are subway scenes from movies we have seen during the course of our lives. This is part of a larger media context, a media collective unconsciou ...
When we go down into the subway there is always in the back of our minds a series of film clips playing. These are subway scenes from movies we have seen during the course of our lives. This is part of a larger media context, a media collective unconsciou ...
W5260
12.10.2012
snowball - Cristina d'eça Leal
WWW
Synopsis When a snowball slides down a hill, it gathers more snow, becoming bigger and bigger until it can, ultimately, start an avalanche. This analogy is used to explain the success of a certain action. In order to achieve the best result it is fundam ...
Synopsis When a snowball slides down a hill, it gathers more snow, becoming bigger and bigger until it can, ultimately, start an avalanche. This analogy is used to explain the success of a certain action. In order to achieve the best result it is fundam ...
U9690
01.01.1995
Untitled, modeled after the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal...  - Jenny Holzer
Unbuilt Roads
Title of the project: Untitled, modeled after the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal, a lazer projection of Lustmord texts onto a 1913 Battle of nations Monument. (100yr in Leipzig, Germany anniversary of 1813 battle) Description: Jenny s ...
Title of the project: Untitled, modeled after the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal, a lazer projection of Lustmord texts onto a 1913 Battle of nations Monument. (100yr in Leipzig, Germany anniversary of 1813 battle) Description: Jenny s ...
W3728
17.05.2011
Mount of Olives - Felippe Moraes
WWW
The project "Mount of Olives" is constituted by seven scaffolds with different heights, each one with an olive tree in a wooden box with earth inside in the top. The trees must be kept alive by an automatic irrigation system. ...
The project "Mount of Olives" is constituted by seven scaffolds with different heights, each one with an olive tree in a wooden box with earth inside in the top. The trees must be kept alive by an automatic irrigation system. ...
W4437
25.05.2011
)SBP(  - anna ferraro
WWW
)SBP( Spazio di Baratto Permanente Lo Spazio di Baratto Permanente (SBP) è un’ipotesi di lavoro per la città di Bologna e per i suoi abitanti. Lo scorcio che si apre al mio sguardo è quello di una città caratterizzata dal “non più”. Ovvero ...
)SBP( Spazio di Baratto Permanente Lo Spazio di Baratto Permanente (SBP) è un’ipotesi di lavoro per la città di Bologna e per i suoi abitanti. Lo scorcio che si apre al mio sguardo è quello di una città caratterizzata dal “non più”. Ovvero ...
W4618
25.05.2011
L’Auditorium A,  - DEHOVE Claire
WWW
L’Auditorium A, Dans sa proximité se construit aujourd’hui l’un des derniers tronçons autorou- tiers. Si cette construction a défiguré le paysage naturel en laissant des cicatrices indélébiles dans la terre et la végétation, si elle a occa ...
L’Auditorium A, Dans sa proximité se construit aujourd’hui l’un des derniers tronçons autorou- tiers. Si cette construction a défiguré le paysage naturel en laissant des cicatrices indélébiles dans la terre et la végétation, si elle a occa ...
W4995
30.08.2012
Black Fountain - Maarten Daudeij
WWW
Title: Black Fountain Artist: Maarten Daudeij (The Netherlands, Australia) Year of origination of the idea: 2010 Concept: To colour the water in the Three Rivers Fountain on Victoria Square in the middle of Adelaide, South Australia black. Theme: The ...
Title: Black Fountain Artist: Maarten Daudeij (The Netherlands, Australia) Year of origination of the idea: 2010 Concept: To colour the water in the Three Rivers Fountain on Victoria Square in the middle of Adelaide, South Australia black. Theme: The ...
W5285
16.10.2012
Asurini  - Adriana
WWW
Asurini – Textile Design It was my last years in University (2006) when I developed and designed this project. It took 9 months searching and designing it. I was fascinated about the local (Brazilian Indians Asurini) body painting and the story behin ...
Asurini – Textile Design It was my last years in University (2006) when I developed and designed this project. It took 9 months searching and designing it. I was fascinated about the local (Brazilian Indians Asurini) body painting and the story behin ...
W5151
24.09.2012
Studiolo - Angelika Böck
WWW
STUDIOLO (seit 2006) ist eine als Archiv funktionierende Klanginstallation, die VertreterInnen verschiedener Disziplinen rund um die Thematik Erkenntnis befragt. Auf den ersten Blick gibt es nicht viel zu sehen: ein weißer, mit Texten bedeckter Kubus, de ...
STUDIOLO (seit 2006) ist eine als Archiv funktionierende Klanginstallation, die VertreterInnen verschiedener Disziplinen rund um die Thematik Erkenntnis befragt. Auf den ersten Blick gibt es nicht viel zu sehen: ein weißer, mit Texten bedeckter Kubus, de ...
W10936
22.06.2015
THORAX - Marion Inglessi
WWW
When we are sick, we are vulnerable. Increasingly assailed by medicine, we maintain a fearful and passive attitude towards our health and therapy, an attitude of hopeful expectation which often has an uncertain outcome. The Sotiria Project, Memory and ...
When we are sick, we are vulnerable. Increasingly assailed by medicine, we maintain a fearful and passive attitude towards our health and therapy, an attitude of hopeful expectation which often has an uncertain outcome. The Sotiria Project, Memory and ...
D10802
01.01.1995
The museum as sleeping quarters for a man of the street - Danilo Duenas
DAAD
Adorned* with 5 very tall constructive paintings made of “formaletas”* and tape and 11 smaller paintings on canvas with two colors installed in the exhibition hall of the “Museo Nacional” in Bogotá (a former 19th century panopticon), I had imagin ...
Adorned* with 5 very tall constructive paintings made of “formaletas”* and tape and 11 smaller paintings on canvas with two colors installed in the exhibition hall of the “Museo Nacional” in Bogotá (a former 19th century panopticon), I had imagin ...
W3680
16.05.2011
THE STREAM - robert sherwood duffield
WWW
The Stream was a research project I had proposed at The University of Newcastle to be set and running by the year 2000 in Sydney. The Stream was to a 100-year continuous movie that would be available via a web page http://www.The-Stream.cc. There was to ...
The Stream was a research project I had proposed at The University of Newcastle to be set and running by the year 2000 in Sydney. The Stream was to a 100-year continuous movie that would be available via a web page http://www.The-Stream.cc. There was to ...
W4120
23.05.2011
Virginia Mastrogiannaki
WWW
The principal idea of the project has its roots on the "cosmogonist" myth of the Cosmic Egg, references of which we find in the history of almost all primitive cultures. We have been asked to research a "cosmogonist" myth and then to carry out a project ...
The principal idea of the project has its roots on the "cosmogonist" myth of the Cosmic Egg, references of which we find in the history of almost all primitive cultures. We have been asked to research a "cosmogonist" myth and then to carry out a project ...
W5167
25.09.2012
On lap - Lubomyr Tymkiv
WWW
On lap. The exhibition, which is on his knees in an outstanding person. It can be knee President of the State, or the Dalai Lama or the Pope or Anders Breivik. Exhibition itself is a cardboard box in which are my work. Duration of action of 15 to 30 ...
On lap. The exhibition, which is on his knees in an outstanding person. It can be knee President of the State, or the Dalai Lama or the Pope or Anders Breivik. Exhibition itself is a cardboard box in which are my work. Duration of action of 15 to 30 ...
W4490
25.05.2011
TerraLoop - W.A.Davison
WWW
William A. Davison is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Through his solo sound and performance project Songs of the New Erotics, Davison has been applying classic experimental music techniques to conceptual/pe ...
William A. Davison is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Through his solo sound and performance project Songs of the New Erotics, Davison has been applying classic experimental music techniques to conceptual/pe ...
W3500
11.05.2011
MI6 – songs of british intelligence - Suzanne Treister
WWW
Suzanne Treister Director International Corporation of Lost Structures (ICOLS) www.icols.org I will inhabit an apartment inside MI6, British Intelligence HQ, located on the River Thames at Vauxhall, London, for a period of one year. Equipment in ...
Suzanne Treister Director International Corporation of Lost Structures (ICOLS) www.icols.org I will inhabit an apartment inside MI6, British Intelligence HQ, located on the River Thames at Vauxhall, London, for a period of one year. Equipment in ...
W3493
11.05.2011
SEX CHAT KARAOKE - Sally-Ann Blaise
WWW
SEX CHAT KARAOKE A Selection of TEXT collected by artist through late night sex chat rooms is printed in duplicate and arranged at the corner of a stage, upon which a small FUNK BAND is playing a GROOVE. audience participate by selecting text in tandem ...
SEX CHAT KARAOKE A Selection of TEXT collected by artist through late night sex chat rooms is printed in duplicate and arranged at the corner of a stage, upon which a small FUNK BAND is playing a GROOVE. audience participate by selecting text in tandem ...