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.

Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero

WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum

Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Mahe Gilles

The Rosetta Garden - Gary Simmons

Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong

Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery  - Erik Dietman

den anonymen Tod ausstellen - Gregor Schneider

Why New Worlds Conceived by Artists Do Not Get Built - Peter Fend

Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3981
21.05.2011
Stuart Keeler
WWW
Aurora is a sculptural work that connects the citizen to the street with seating, lighting and sculptural forms. The work offers daytime and nighttime animation with a sculptural gesture of the familiar forms. Powered by a series of low wattage LED light ...
Aurora is a sculptural work that connects the citizen to the street with seating, lighting and sculptural forms. The work offers daytime and nighttime animation with a sculptural gesture of the familiar forms. Powered by a series of low wattage LED light ...
W3589
13.05.2011
Failed Music Store - Luke Munn
WWW
Work Description: In this proposed project for Watermans, 1000 bargain bin CDs are purchased and made available to visitors to browse, playback and take-away if they wish. Rather than a constantly updated library of the latest hits, these albums are the ...
Work Description: In this proposed project for Watermans, 1000 bargain bin CDs are purchased and made available to visitors to browse, playback and take-away if they wish. Rather than a constantly updated library of the latest hits, these albums are the ...
W3511
11.05.2011
Brand New Door - Brian Hubble
WWW
In exchange for a discount on my bill, I built a door for the makeshift storage unit adjacent to my mechanic’s garage. I wanted the door to be functional but look as if it had been there for years, fitting in the weathered environment. I collected mater ...
In exchange for a discount on my bill, I built a door for the makeshift storage unit adjacent to my mechanic’s garage. I wanted the door to be functional but look as if it had been there for years, fitting in the weathered environment. I collected mater ...
W3951
20.05.2011
DISCOVERY of the GRAND UNIFICATION THEORY, or CHOOSE DETERMINISM - Alyce Santoro
WWW
my unrealized project is an extra-scientific contribution to the GRAND UNIFICATION THEORY in physics. DISCOVERY of the GRAND UNIFICATION THEORY, or CHOOSE DETERMINISM, the Unrealized Project of Alyce Santoro Physicists are working around the cloc ...
my unrealized project is an extra-scientific contribution to the GRAND UNIFICATION THEORY in physics. DISCOVERY of the GRAND UNIFICATION THEORY, or CHOOSE DETERMINISM, the Unrealized Project of Alyce Santoro Physicists are working around the cloc ...
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 ...
W5017
30.08.2012
Crystal Clouds - Martial MARQUET
WWW
Title : CRYSTAL CLOUDS Authors : Olivier Bacin, Martial Marquet Date : 2010 Place : Caracas. The utopian urban project CRYSTAL CLOUDS is a reflection on urban sprawl by inviting the city to devellopped itself in the fourth dimension. Here, the fourt ...
Title : CRYSTAL CLOUDS Authors : Olivier Bacin, Martial Marquet Date : 2010 Place : Caracas. The utopian urban project CRYSTAL CLOUDS is a reflection on urban sprawl by inviting the city to devellopped itself in the fourth dimension. Here, the fourt ...
W3682
16.05.2011
Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
WWW
Two Barges is a proposal for a pair of illuminated signs to be ferried around the island of Manhattan using the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers.   The signs will be made from panels of tungsten lightbulbs fixed to a supporting metal rig.   The letters wi ...
Two Barges is a proposal for a pair of illuminated signs to be ferried around the island of Manhattan using the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers.   The signs will be made from panels of tungsten lightbulbs fixed to a supporting metal rig.   The letters wi ...
W4302
24.05.2011
Black Box - Anna Balint, Béla Káli, József Tasnádi
WWW
Black Box  is a parallel reconstruction project evaluating the unique by repetition, an analyse of the essential existence of unrealized architectural projects through their increasing concrete existence. We construct a database of  50 remarkable archit ...
Black Box  is a parallel reconstruction project evaluating the unique by repetition, an analyse of the essential existence of unrealized architectural projects through their increasing concrete existence. We construct a database of  50 remarkable archit ...
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 ...
W4613
25.05.2011
'Fish tank of snake eyes' - Valerie Driscoll
WWW
'Fish tank of snake eyes' A glass tank (measuring 60 cm x 60 cm and 40 cm tall). On the base of the tank will stand approximately 50-60 erect penises made from glass. Each glass penis will be life size and will be different in shape and size (preferably ...
'Fish tank of snake eyes' A glass tank (measuring 60 cm x 60 cm and 40 cm tall). On the base of the tank will stand approximately 50-60 erect penises made from glass. Each glass penis will be life size and will be different in shape and size (preferably ...
D10828
09.09.2012
Stage-Corridor +Secuestro Colectivo + Demolition with chronometred explosive-charges + Meeting Points  - DoloresZinny & Juan Maidagan
DAAD
Stage-Corridor,1992 Theater director Palma asked us to design the stage for a theater piece. In a crossed confluence to meet at the stage four glass corridors corresponding to the 4 actors of the piece to make visible the transformation actor/characte ...
Stage-Corridor,1992 Theater director Palma asked us to design the stage for a theater piece. In a crossed confluence to meet at the stage four glass corridors corresponding to the 4 actors of the piece to make visible the transformation actor/characte ...
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 ...
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 ...
W5080
06.09.2012
Urban Void 05  - Toornend & Post
WWW
Urban Void 05 (Villa), Am Grossen Wannsee, Berlin (D) 2006 (lambdaprint 1665×4190 pixels) Urban Voids offer spatial relief, unexpected views and twisted collective memories by the apparently simple act of removal; Urban Voids are architectures antipod ...
Urban Void 05 (Villa), Am Grossen Wannsee, Berlin (D) 2006 (lambdaprint 1665×4190 pixels) Urban Voids offer spatial relief, unexpected views and twisted collective memories by the apparently simple act of removal; Urban Voids are architectures antipod ...
W4764
28.05.2011
Juliana BIttencourt
WWW
I would like to ask if I still can submit my project. It was part of an exhibition en Brazil of unrealized projects. http://projetosnatemporada.org/en/ The curators told me about this site but I´m afraid is to late. Thanks a lot, Juliana Bittencourt ...
I would like to ask if I still can submit my project. It was part of an exhibition en Brazil of unrealized projects. http://projetosnatemporada.org/en/ The curators told me about this site but I´m afraid is to late. Thanks a lot, Juliana Bittencourt ...
W4175
24.05.2011
BIYING ZHANG
WWW
As a young Chinese artist living in the United States, Zhang feels a strong sense of being a foreign person in this country especially after her marriage to a US citizen. In her artwork, Zhang explores the difference and displacement that she feels. ...
As a young Chinese artist living in the United States, Zhang feels a strong sense of being a foreign person in this country especially after her marriage to a US citizen. In her artwork, Zhang explores the difference and displacement that she feels. ...
W3842
19.05.2011
BLIND SPOT - KimSu Theiler
WWW
dimensions variable Can we turn the horror of being dematerialized whether in the eyes of a beloved or in a community into the super-hero power of invisibility and back again. 8 cameras in a circle point out over the room. 8 grid camera view re ...
dimensions variable Can we turn the horror of being dematerialized whether in the eyes of a beloved or in a community into the super-hero power of invisibility and back again. 8 cameras in a circle point out over the room. 8 grid camera view re ...
W4402
25.05.2011
"Things We Never Did" - Claus Prokop
WWW
"Things We Never Did" Aware of the fact that showing unrealized work is a step towards realization I am submitting two collections of material separated into software and hardware. Both of them are part of a bigger, absolutely unsystematic, collection ...
"Things We Never Did" Aware of the fact that showing unrealized work is a step towards realization I am submitting two collections of material separated into software and hardware. Both of them are part of a bigger, absolutely unsystematic, collection ...
W5400
20.10.2012
WHITE CUBE RESEARCH - Pascal Unbehaun
WWW
This project was never realized. My work is close to theory, so the idea was to work in a temporary research institute in the exhibition context. I wanted to invite fellow researchers to work together. Finally, after the show ended, we would publish our r ...
This project was never realized. My work is close to theory, so the idea was to work in a temporary research institute in the exhibition context. I wanted to invite fellow researchers to work together. Finally, after the show ended, we would publish our r ...
W4174
24.05.2011
Arhat - Mitya Nesterov & Lera Nibiru
WWW
Arhat is a project consisting of photographs of mutants and other anatomic material installed in round spaceship-like viewports ...
Arhat is a project consisting of photographs of mutants and other anatomic material installed in round spaceship-like viewports ...
W4194
24.05.2011
Fleury Jean Damien
WWW
Rotation terrestre avec différentiel / projet d'harmonisation par réglage des écoulements temporels ...
Rotation terrestre avec différentiel / projet d'harmonisation par réglage des écoulements temporels ...
W3947
20.05.2011
lucciola.net - Beatrice Crastini
WWW
Project to create a bright jewel, presented to the "Trieste Contemporanea International Design Contest", 2006 Name: lucciola.net Lucciola.net is an jewel whimsical assembled and balanced. Feature: vision in motion. In a little piece of glass ...
Project to create a bright jewel, presented to the "Trieste Contemporanea International Design Contest", 2006 Name: lucciola.net Lucciola.net is an jewel whimsical assembled and balanced. Feature: vision in motion. In a little piece of glass ...
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 ...
W3554
12.05.2011
Filipa Ramos & António Contador
WWW
Lisbon, May 12, 2011 Dear Agency of Unrealized Projects, We have been planning to write you for so long. In fact, it has been more than two years now, since we first felt the urge to share our thoughts with you. But we ended up never doing it until ...
Lisbon, May 12, 2011 Dear Agency of Unrealized Projects, We have been planning to write you for so long. In fact, it has been more than two years now, since we first felt the urge to share our thoughts with you. But we ended up never doing it until ...
W4142
23.05.2011
Get Carter - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Get Carter 1997 We proposed to install a fully operational prison door into the entrance of the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. All other doors and windows into the gallery space were to be closed and sealed. The prison door was to ...
Get Carter 1997 We proposed to install a fully operational prison door into the entrance of the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. All other doors and windows into the gallery space were to be closed and sealed. The prison door was to ...
W4464
25.05.2011
FLOW - Jane Ball
WWW
FLOW My proposal is to use the Pen Museum, Birmingham as an investigative site for the production of new works that build on ideas initiated in the work entitled ‘Cut’ (shown at the Vaults, Birmingham, 2010); ideas relating to the sculptural act o ...
FLOW My proposal is to use the Pen Museum, Birmingham as an investigative site for the production of new works that build on ideas initiated in the work entitled ‘Cut’ (shown at the Vaults, Birmingham, 2010); ideas relating to the sculptural act o ...