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.

Temple of the western buddha (1971 Kathmedu) - Herman de Vries

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

Ruderaltisch, 1994/95 Kunst am Bau - Projekt - Lois Weinberger

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

Entwurf für einen erneuerten Malkasten 1992 - 1994 - Ulrike Holthöfer

The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4645
25.05.2011
Deployable Detention Center: Porta-Prison - Jenny Polak
WWW
Deployable Detention Center: Porta-Prison. A proposal by Jenny Polak 500 ch Porta-Prison is a fictional design proposal: a deployable detention center conceived to bring seasonal labour to farms. The project includes an interactive promotional website ...
Deployable Detention Center: Porta-Prison. A proposal by Jenny Polak 500 ch Porta-Prison is a fictional design proposal: a deployable detention center conceived to bring seasonal labour to farms. The project includes an interactive promotional website ...
W4138
23.05.2011
No manʼs land - Constanza Alarcón Tennen
WWW
No manʼs land This installation was projected for Sala SAM, a gallery in Santiago de Chile, to be exhibited in August 2010. Because of the abrupt closure of the gallery, the Project was stoped a month before opening. No manʼs land was based in the obs ...
No manʼs land This installation was projected for Sala SAM, a gallery in Santiago de Chile, to be exhibited in August 2010. Because of the abrupt closure of the gallery, the Project was stoped a month before opening. No manʼs land was based in the obs ...
W4518
25.05.2011
Viktor Timofeev
WWW
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
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 ...
U9635
01.01.1997
Milan House (AC/DC & Joy Division) - Liam Gillick
Unbuilt Roads
In response to an invitation to propose a public art project anywhere in Italy I designed a house to be built in Milan. The basic drawings were completed and submitted for consideration. At this point an architectural practice in Milan became involved and ...
In response to an invitation to propose a public art project anywhere in Italy I designed a house to be built in Milan. The basic drawings were completed and submitted for consideration. At this point an architectural practice in Milan became involved and ...
W5318
18.10.2012
Dialogue - Thiago Parizi
WWW
05.2010 The project entitled “Dialogue” consists of a ping-pong table and two sound speakers. Measuring a total of 274 x 152 x 136 cm, this unfinished installation would have both speakers facing each other at both of the extremities of the table. ...
05.2010 The project entitled “Dialogue” consists of a ping-pong table and two sound speakers. Measuring a total of 274 x 152 x 136 cm, this unfinished installation would have both speakers facing each other at both of the extremities of the table. ...
W4124
23.05.2011
Here/There - Matthew Slaats
WWW
Here/There Matthew Slaats Project Proposal Here/There is a virtual 3D exploration of the spatial, temporal, economic and physical relationships between environments in North and South America. Project Description Here/There aims to illustr ...
Here/There Matthew Slaats Project Proposal Here/There is a virtual 3D exploration of the spatial, temporal, economic and physical relationships between environments in North and South America. Project Description Here/There aims to illustr ...
W3496
11.05.2011
Greenwich South - DeWitt Godfrey
WWW
Greenwich South commissioned by The Alliance for Downtown New York to participate in a visioning study that presents ways to transform the 23 blocks south of the World Trade Center—known as Greenwich South. The study was led by Architecture Research ...
Greenwich South commissioned by The Alliance for Downtown New York to participate in a visioning study that presents ways to transform the 23 blocks south of the World Trade Center—known as Greenwich South. The study was led by Architecture Research ...
W5246
10.10.2012
Wrap buildings - Iain McPherson
WWW
Project: Wrap buildings. Everything is packaged, transport is branded, so how long before we wrap buildings? 2 mock ups of wrapped buildings in London and Tokyo. ...
Project: Wrap buildings. Everything is packaged, transport is branded, so how long before we wrap buildings? 2 mock ups of wrapped buildings in London and Tokyo. ...
W4763
28.05.2011
Postpone - Postpone
WWW
Postpone is a creative agency, not yet created (but coming soon) gathering smart artistic workers operating in design, film and photography. The agency (T.M., O.Q., Y.B. and A. the secretary) are based in Oslo, London and Provence. Very near from some of ...
Postpone is a creative agency, not yet created (but coming soon) gathering smart artistic workers operating in design, film and photography. The agency (T.M., O.Q., Y.B. and A. the secretary) are based in Oslo, London and Provence. Very near from some of ...
W5175
26.09.2012
Action Office III - Geissler Sann
WWW
Action Office III The first cubicles were designed in 1967 by Robert Propst. The purpose was to give the workers more privacy, to isolate them from sights and noises of an open workspace. Probst consulted for his research mathematicians, behavioral psych ...
Action Office III The first cubicles were designed in 1967 by Robert Propst. The purpose was to give the workers more privacy, to isolate them from sights and noises of an open workspace. Probst consulted for his research mathematicians, behavioral psych ...
W4527
25.05.2011
Sculpture Installation - Jaime Szczepanski
WWW
Proposal 3: Sculpture Installation Location: Convention Center Boulevard, Canal Boulevard For this project, two standard bus stop shelters will be installed in two locations. The appearance, dimensions and scale of these awnings will match those seen ...
Proposal 3: Sculpture Installation Location: Convention Center Boulevard, Canal Boulevard For this project, two standard bus stop shelters will be installed in two locations. The appearance, dimensions and scale of these awnings will match those seen ...
W4143
23.05.2011
Brighton Seafront Public Art Commission - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Our proposal for the ‘Brighton Seafront Public Art Commission’ took as a starting point the representation, myth and collective memory of Brighton, England, as a Bank Holiday destination for displays of public disorder by rival gangs of ‘Mods’ and ...
Our proposal for the ‘Brighton Seafront Public Art Commission’ took as a starting point the representation, myth and collective memory of Brighton, England, as a Bank Holiday destination for displays of public disorder by rival gangs of ‘Mods’ and ...
W10484
28.04.2014
Tower (Without Walls) - Esther Shalev-Gerz
WWW
Jerusalem, Israel In 1998 Esther Shalev-Gerz proposed the intervention Tower (Without Walls) to the city of Jerusalem. The project consisted of imagining Jerusalem without city walls, by projecting the image of the streets located on the other side ont ...
Jerusalem, Israel In 1998 Esther Shalev-Gerz proposed the intervention Tower (Without Walls) to the city of Jerusalem. The project consisted of imagining Jerusalem without city walls, by projecting the image of the streets located on the other side ont ...
W3542
12.05.2011
Nathan Danilowicz
WWW
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
W4693
26.05.2011
a flower every day - Nina Meledandri
WWW
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
W4202
24.05.2011
The Eisenstein Project - janet hodgson
WWW
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
D10808
01.01.2003
The House of Language - Bethan Huws
DAAD
To print this phrase on a relatively large number of (bird) nest boxes – the German concrete cylinder type which are not analogous to human houses, unlike their French and British counterparts – and then to install these in an area of a forest that do ...
To print this phrase on a relatively large number of (bird) nest boxes – the German concrete cylinder type which are not analogous to human houses, unlike their French and British counterparts – and then to install these in an area of a forest that do ...
W4677
26.05.2011
storefront display sale - Jenny Polak
WWW
Alien Vernacular: storefront display sale Jenny Polak, In Practice Proposal for Sculpture Center, 2008 For this project I will to go round stores in different NY neighbourhoods, to collect (document by drawing and photographing) their designs for exte ...
Alien Vernacular: storefront display sale Jenny Polak, In Practice Proposal for Sculpture Center, 2008 For this project I will to go round stores in different NY neighbourhoods, to collect (document by drawing and photographing) their designs for exte ...
W4820
07.08.2012
Pablo Jansana
WWW
People are normalized by depiction. It situates them in positions that, with the passing of time, become identities. Reality requires repetition in order for meaning to settle and artworks help to reinforce these positions. The supremacy of men over women ...
People are normalized by depiction. It situates them in positions that, with the passing of time, become identities. Reality requires repetition in order for meaning to settle and artworks help to reinforce these positions. The supremacy of men over women ...
W4630
25.05.2011
Newark Orphan Asylum - Ann LePore
WWW
Newark Orphan Asylum is a proposal for public art at NJIT Alumni Center at 323 Marlin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Newark. In conjunction with Do1thing.org, an organization for homeless youth, and/or Heart Gallery of New Jersey (heartgallerynj.org), an organiz ...
Newark Orphan Asylum is a proposal for public art at NJIT Alumni Center at 323 Marlin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Newark. In conjunction with Do1thing.org, an organization for homeless youth, and/or Heart Gallery of New Jersey (heartgallerynj.org), an organiz ...
W10554
04.06.2014
Green Soundscape // Audio collage - Reference to the Arab revolution - Youssef Tabti
WWW
I. Collect recording in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) The project addresses the idea of Arabic cities landscape from an auditory perspective. I would like to collect a various audio sources on location to recreate a complex and subje ...
I. Collect recording in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) The project addresses the idea of Arabic cities landscape from an auditory perspective. I would like to collect a various audio sources on location to recreate a complex and subje ...
W5196
02.10.2012
The Installation series of Untitled (Wishes, Lies and Dreams >> Wonderfully Wonderful ...) - Sarawut Chutiwongpeti
WWW
“The Installation series of Untitled (Wishes, Lies and Dreams >> Wonderfully Wonderful ...)” Basic Concept: My goal is to investigate the expressive possibilities of conceptual visual language and to develop Collaborative New Art as part of bot ...
“The Installation series of Untitled (Wishes, Lies and Dreams >> Wonderfully Wonderful ...)” Basic Concept: My goal is to investigate the expressive possibilities of conceptual visual language and to develop Collaborative New Art as part of bot ...
W3851
19.05.2011
John Miserendino
WWW
a hot air balloon shaped like an inverted empire state building. ...
a hot air balloon shaped like an inverted empire state building. ...
W4614
25.05.2011
Art Forum - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Review of Unrealized projects by Cornford & Cross Rachel Withers Art Forum Jan 2003 ...
Review of Unrealized projects by Cornford & Cross Rachel Withers Art Forum Jan 2003 ...
W5463
21.10.2012
The House I Grew Up In - Zena Zakanycz
WWW
Artist Statement: It is interesting to see what one value or thinks should be contained, stored and kept. This idea of something being secure and safely tucked away or collected is fundamental in my work. I think it is an essential quality of humans to ...
Artist Statement: It is interesting to see what one value or thinks should be contained, stored and kept. This idea of something being secure and safely tucked away or collected is fundamental in my work. I think it is an essential quality of humans to ...