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.

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

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

Billboard - Jimmie Durham

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

Right-of-Privacy Release - Tony Oursler

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

The insurer - Fabrice Hybert

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

My House - Uri Tzaig

Unrealized Projects - Jonas Meckas

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3590
13.05.2011
IN-OUTDOOR PROJECT - Helena Trindade
WWW
Unrealized Public Art Project For images and text please refer to the PDF ...
Unrealized Public Art Project For images and text please refer to the PDF ...
U9816
05.02.1990
The pyramids...to be seen to be believed - Jonathan Monk
Unbuilt Roads
Glasgow 1990 Cultural Capital of Europe 5 February 1990 Mr Jonathan Monk 22 Cecil Street Hillhead Glasgow G12 8RH Dear Jonathan Monk Thank you very much for your exciting letter concerning your proposed project for this year namely ...
Glasgow 1990 Cultural Capital of Europe 5 February 1990 Mr Jonathan Monk 22 Cecil Street Hillhead Glasgow G12 8RH Dear Jonathan Monk Thank you very much for your exciting letter concerning your proposed project for this year namely ...
W4804
07.08.2012
1st Draft - Yoshiko Shimada
WWW
"1st Draft", 3"59, Video. Perceptions of thought prompted through language may also be translated to language molding our perceptions of time. The concept of time through language interested me because people always speak of “living in the present” ...
"1st Draft", 3"59, Video. Perceptions of thought prompted through language may also be translated to language molding our perceptions of time. The concept of time through language interested me because people always speak of “living in the present” ...
W5295
17.10.2012
Tomb of the Unknown Broker - Andreas Kopp
WWW
To the unknown Broker / Tomb of the Unknown Broker ( Dem unbekannten Broker ) a monument about artistic vision as social comment The installation (Tomb of an Unknown Broker) is dedicated to the virtual character of an Unidentified Broker. It highl ...
To the unknown Broker / Tomb of the Unknown Broker ( Dem unbekannten Broker ) a monument about artistic vision as social comment The installation (Tomb of an Unknown Broker) is dedicated to the virtual character of an Unidentified Broker. It highl ...
W5449
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING II: "SEEDBED, AND...”  - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING II: "SEEDBED, AND...” is a play on Acconci's performance of similar name. The 'SeedBed, and…” is meant to be entered through a below ground tunnel, just large enough for a six foot person, who ste ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING II: "SEEDBED, AND...” is a play on Acconci's performance of similar name. The 'SeedBed, and…” is meant to be entered through a below ground tunnel, just large enough for a six foot person, who ste ...
W4787
07.06.2011
Revolutions - Paul Muguet
WWW
Paul Muguet’s Unrealized Project for Year 2011: REVOLUTIONS Revolutions is about the reversal of popular imagery in times of crisis. The inspiration for this project comes from the European imagery about a country in which everything is reversed: " ...
Paul Muguet’s Unrealized Project for Year 2011: REVOLUTIONS Revolutions is about the reversal of popular imagery in times of crisis. The inspiration for this project comes from the European imagery about a country in which everything is reversed: " ...
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 ...
W5165
25.09.2012
A Patent Application For An Artificial Imagination - Peter Stott
WWW
A description of a method for computers to create an artificial imagination of a 3D world for typography and any other 2D shape or any conglomeration of 2D shapes, incorporating 3D meshes for the creation of architectonic visions, including animated visio ...
A description of a method for computers to create an artificial imagination of a 3D world for typography and any other 2D shape or any conglomeration of 2D shapes, incorporating 3D meshes for the creation of architectonic visions, including animated visio ...
W5065
04.09.2012
The Canon - Stephanie Radok
WWW
The unrealised project is called 'The canon'. The unrealised project is called 'The canon'. It involves casting 1,001 books representing the canon of Western literature. A list of the books, the rejected works and the reasons for the choices made form ...
The unrealised project is called 'The canon'. The unrealised project is called 'The canon'. It involves casting 1,001 books representing the canon of Western literature. A list of the books, the rejected works and the reasons for the choices made form ...
W10404
19.04.2014
The 'Not at...' series: Installations that never were... - Claire Manning
WWW
This series of work is a set of installations proposed but not realised. It is an ongoing project aimed at freeing another piece -- 'In the shadow of her gaze n.02' -- from the constraints of its reliance with the wall. Each proposal is capable of bei ...
This series of work is a set of installations proposed but not realised. It is an ongoing project aimed at freeing another piece -- 'In the shadow of her gaze n.02' -- from the constraints of its reliance with the wall. Each proposal is capable of bei ...
W4206
24.05.2011
AU Suivant - Piki en Liesbet Verschueren
WWW
Liesbet & Piki would like to propose some video installations which were never shown and/or not shown in a way they were intented to, namely in context of architectural spaces. Piki & Liesbets’ video projects start from the playful observation of lif ...
Liesbet & Piki would like to propose some video installations which were never shown and/or not shown in a way they were intented to, namely in context of architectural spaces. Piki & Liesbets’ video projects start from the playful observation of lif ...
W4426
25.05.2011
The Unicorn Lake - Yona Friedman
WWW
The Unicorn Lake Project for the lake of sculptures of Vassivière island, France July 2009 On the lake of Vassivière After creating in 2009, in the framework of the exhibition Etc. Balkis Island, The Vassivière Unicorn ("Unicorn Eiffel"), a sculp ...
The Unicorn Lake Project for the lake of sculptures of Vassivière island, France July 2009 On the lake of Vassivière After creating in 2009, in the framework of the exhibition Etc. Balkis Island, The Vassivière Unicorn ("Unicorn Eiffel"), a sculp ...
W5114
17.09.2012
Marlaina Eldey
WWW
Sorry for placing my picture in the Text Document place, i have been trying to delete it and it will not respond..... The first image is one I never did finish. It began as a doodle that I created in the midst of a deep depression. I call the doodle, ...
Sorry for placing my picture in the Text Document place, i have been trying to delete it and it will not respond..... The first image is one I never did finish. It began as a doodle that I created in the midst of a deep depression. I call the doodle, ...
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 ...
W3903
20.05.2011
A dream finds the way - Новогребельская Мария
WWW
Artist’s Statement “A dream finds the way” A.S.Grin “Movement” Once I realized that I am near the truth and this made me free. It is the best if one does in his life something that brings pleasure, what interesting is. ...
Artist’s Statement “A dream finds the way” A.S.Grin “Movement” Once I realized that I am near the truth and this made me free. It is the best if one does in his life something that brings pleasure, what interesting is. ...
W3799
18.05.2011
PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION OF THE STONE CIRCLES OF SENEGAL AND THE GAMBIA - Kerry Stuart Coppin
WWW
Panoramic Documentation of The Stone Circles of Senegal and The Gambia: I propose to extend visual research to a region of the continent not well known - a little documented rural region. One of five sites in Africa recently (2006) declared Unesco World ...
Panoramic Documentation of The Stone Circles of Senegal and The Gambia: I propose to extend visual research to a region of the continent not well known - a little documented rural region. One of five sites in Africa recently (2006) declared Unesco World ...
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 ...
W4393
25.05.2011
Ground Control - Sylvia Schwenk
WWW
SYLVIA SCHWENK PROJECT CONCEPT STATEMENT Ground Control is a work of participatory performance art that will be presented in two stages. The first stage will be a live performance that will take place at night-time by everyday-people-cum-performers ...
SYLVIA SCHWENK PROJECT CONCEPT STATEMENT Ground Control is a work of participatory performance art that will be presented in two stages. The first stage will be a live performance that will take place at night-time by everyday-people-cum-performers ...
W3818
19.05.2011
Kelly Jazvac and Patrick Howlett
WWW
An abstract public sculpture that doubles as a large scale bike rack. Our proposal is for a large-scale, powder-coated steel sculpture to be installed in the outdoor sculpture garden at the SculptureCenter. The project will appear to be a prototypical ...
An abstract public sculpture that doubles as a large scale bike rack. Our proposal is for a large-scale, powder-coated steel sculpture to be installed in the outdoor sculpture garden at the SculptureCenter. The project will appear to be a prototypical ...
W11140
20.11.2016
Proposal for the Hollywood Fault - Lee Lavy
WWW
Hollywood Fault The Hollywood Fault, according the the State Geological Survey map released in January 2014, runs east to west through Hollywood. It is represented on the map as a yellow gash, roughly 500 ft wide, traveling along Sunset Blvd, up to Hol ...
Hollywood Fault The Hollywood Fault, according the the State Geological Survey map released in January 2014, runs east to west through Hollywood. It is represented on the map as a yellow gash, roughly 500 ft wide, traveling along Sunset Blvd, up to Hol ...
W4230
24.05.2011
Monument for bridges. - Dico Kruijsse
WWW
Monument for bridges. Visuals of a monumental sculpture to be made out of the remains of two countryside bridges. A road of about 20 kilometres long was rebuild. Therefore as much as 50 bridges accessing the farmlands where taken apart and demolished. ...
Monument for bridges. Visuals of a monumental sculpture to be made out of the remains of two countryside bridges. A road of about 20 kilometres long was rebuild. Therefore as much as 50 bridges accessing the farmlands where taken apart and demolished. ...
W4892
10.08.2012
Ben Sloat
WWW
A golden inflatable, each uniquely patterned, is produced in a glass case upon the viewer's initiative (stepping on a red button). The artwork very slowly inflates (3-5 minutes), then is suddenly released! It rises and flies out an above window. ...
A golden inflatable, each uniquely patterned, is produced in a glass case upon the viewer's initiative (stepping on a red button). The artwork very slowly inflates (3-5 minutes), then is suddenly released! It rises and flies out an above window. ...
W5450
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” A house or room, housed elsewhere. A large room or rectangular structure set within another space, so that one can see the outside of it and move into its interior. A more ambit ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” A house or room, housed elsewhere. A large room or rectangular structure set within another space, so that one can see the outside of it and move into its interior. A more ambit ...
W3876
19.05.2011
CURTAIN CALL: Giant drawing as suspended sculpture - Derek Michael Besant
WWW
Client: Windspear Music Centre / City of Edmonton / Canada Date: 1996 Sculpture designed to hang suspended in new Windspear music Hall Tower The idea was to create a drawing in space that was linear, but described volume. The giant detail of fold ...
Client: Windspear Music Centre / City of Edmonton / Canada Date: 1996 Sculpture designed to hang suspended in new Windspear music Hall Tower The idea was to create a drawing in space that was linear, but described volume. The giant detail of fold ...
W4993
29.08.2012
Stereo-Monocal - Marc Serra Roca
WWW
Stereo-Monocal live set deconstructs a digital audio mixer in an analogical, live and experiential medium. Both audio channels are represented by two streets running along a canal in Amsterdam, now morphed into audio gangways, as if they were part of a ...
Stereo-Monocal live set deconstructs a digital audio mixer in an analogical, live and experiential medium. Both audio channels are represented by two streets running along a canal in Amsterdam, now morphed into audio gangways, as if they were part of a ...
W5401
20.10.2012
Sculpture in a park - Alexandros Kaklamanos
WWW
Abstract of the Project Proposal Sculpture in a park During 2010-2011, a thorough research is conducted on the vortex. Now, a need is emerged to create a sculpture that will produce the vortex in a natural way, without using any electro mechanical assi ...
Abstract of the Project Proposal Sculpture in a park During 2010-2011, a thorough research is conducted on the vortex. Now, a need is emerged to create a sculpture that will produce the vortex in a natural way, without using any electro mechanical assi ...