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.

Proposal for a permanent video installation for the NYC headquarters of Sony Corporation - Dara Birnbaum

Project 1 + Project 2 - Simryn Gill

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

A FAIRLY TALL TOWER, 48,000 Miles High -  - Siah Armajani

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

La Guerra De Los Simbolos - Victor Grippo

Double Exposure 1995-6  - Dan Graham

Catwalk - Sylive Fleury

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5228
08.10.2012
Julie Ball
WWW
Digital images from an evolving collection of unintentional human mark making Images related as a record of a chance incident in time that has left a physical mark -evidence of the moment. Each mark has its origins as unique, unintentional and undesir ...
Digital images from an evolving collection of unintentional human mark making Images related as a record of a chance incident in time that has left a physical mark -evidence of the moment. Each mark has its origins as unique, unintentional and undesir ...
W4257
24.05.2011
PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW COLUMBUS AVENUE COMMUNITY ENTRANCE PLAZA 1998 - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW COLUMBUS AVENUE COMMUNITY ENTRANCE PLAZA 1998 American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Proposal for the new Columbus Avenue Community Entrance Plaza. Polsheck and Partners, Architects ...
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW COLUMBUS AVENUE COMMUNITY ENTRANCE PLAZA 1998 American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Proposal for the new Columbus Avenue Community Entrance Plaza. Polsheck and Partners, Architects ...
W5392
20.10.2012
Pieterjan Grandry
WWW
Absence stimulates the need for completion and the design of these ideas is what makes the intangible absent concrete. Talking about absence in an urban spot (the incomplete tower of Antwerp’s cathedral), one might think of utopia. Utopia is the non-pla ...
Absence stimulates the need for completion and the design of these ideas is what makes the intangible absent concrete. Talking about absence in an urban spot (the incomplete tower of Antwerp’s cathedral), one might think of utopia. Utopia is the non-pla ...
W5064
04.09.2012
SolarCircuit RAYsponse  - c a l c (omi - Thomas Scheiderbauer)
WWW
SolarCircuit RAYsponse is a project with the aim to let the façade of an institution (= a meaning charged façade) express itself in the public environment. its two architectonic/technical elements consist of a solar panel and a proportional related ima ...
SolarCircuit RAYsponse is a project with the aim to let the façade of an institution (= a meaning charged façade) express itself in the public environment. its two architectonic/technical elements consist of a solar panel and a proportional related ima ...
W4609
25.05.2011
Found Objects for Assemblages - Tom Fish Hoyum
WWW
Found Objects for Assemblages --- I create art from existing objects & assemble them. Pictures follow for the following: Book Club: 10 Chicago Tribunes from 1974 Nixon Resigns [in plastic bag.] Popeye & Evangeline Together Again. [Two dolls in willow d ...
Found Objects for Assemblages --- I create art from existing objects & assemble them. Pictures follow for the following: Book Club: 10 Chicago Tribunes from 1974 Nixon Resigns [in plastic bag.] Popeye & Evangeline Together Again. [Two dolls in willow d ...
W4806
07.08.2012
We Don't Even Know How to End This Misery - Kristin Tårnes
WWW
The text is the voiceover of a film I made about an unrealized collaborative project while I was an exchange student in Berlin in 2007. The two images are stills from the same film. Even though the original project was unrealized, a work about the unreali ...
The text is the voiceover of a film I made about an unrealized collaborative project while I was an exchange student in Berlin in 2007. The two images are stills from the same film. Even though the original project was unrealized, a work about the unreali ...
W4567
25.05.2011
Eduardo Villanueva & Jose Davila
WWW
A Remake of a film scenario interaction. ...
A Remake of a film scenario interaction. ...
W5294
16.10.2012
Western Gateway to Iowa - Andrew Leicester
WWW
Western Gateway to Iowa – The Energy State Iowa is the largest US producer of corn which is increasing devoted to ethanol production. Iowa is also a leader in wind power generation especially in the western edges of the state. Iowa’s most famous ...
Western Gateway to Iowa – The Energy State Iowa is the largest US producer of corn which is increasing devoted to ethanol production. Iowa is also a leader in wind power generation especially in the western edges of the state. Iowa’s most famous ...
U9731
01.01.1988
Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata
Unbuilt Roads
Please see the enclosed leaflet· "Tower Crane, Paris" (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Financial, technical and organisation problems Previous Publications (?) Enclosed ...
Please see the enclosed leaflet· "Tower Crane, Paris" (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Financial, technical and organisation problems Previous Publications (?) Enclosed ...
U9622
01.01.1970
119. PROJET DE DESTRUCTION DU MUSEE 1970 - 1971 - Jef Geys
Unbuilt Roads
Plan pour devoir Musée o'anu[?]s avec autorisation et aide de ministères contactes (Eventuellement raisons pour lesquelles le travail n'a pu etre realise) Refus ministères de la defense etc. Publications: Kempens informatieblad Contact ...
Plan pour devoir Musée o'anu[?]s avec autorisation et aide de ministères contactes (Eventuellement raisons pour lesquelles le travail n'a pu etre realise) Refus ministères de la defense etc. Publications: Kempens informatieblad Contact ...
W4696
26.05.2011
Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures - Richard Jochum
WWW
Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures Short Description In 2005 I've participated in an open call for a public art project. The project included the redesign of 5 station buildings along a railroad connecting small villages in the middle of the Au ...
Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures Short Description In 2005 I've participated in an open call for a public art project. The project included the redesign of 5 station buildings along a railroad connecting small villages in the middle of the Au ...
W4189
24.05.2011
“What It’s Gonna Take“ - Anne Herzblut
WWW
“What It’s Gonna Take“ An installation about death, time and consumption The initial point fort this installation are thoughts about a very common place: about my own death. The question is: HOW MANY things and HOW MUCH I will need until I die ...
“What It’s Gonna Take“ An installation about death, time and consumption The initial point fort this installation are thoughts about a very common place: about my own death. The question is: HOW MANY things and HOW MUCH I will need until I die ...
W5504
15.11.2012
(M)other - Alireza Labeshka
WWW
My mother says when I was a baby it was not easy to wean me off her breast. Later on in order to make me give up the pacifier, my mom pinned it to the curtain of my room so I would suppose it wounded and that it cannot be used again. I have heard that day ...
My mother says when I was a baby it was not easy to wean me off her breast. Later on in order to make me give up the pacifier, my mom pinned it to the curtain of my room so I would suppose it wounded and that it cannot be used again. I have heard that day ...
W10583
18.06.2014
Downriver - Jonathan Parsons
WWW
proposal for the 2010 Spitalfields Sculpture Prize Downriver further develops my established practice of making ‘dissected’ map sculptures. Previously, I have taken actual source maps and cut away everything from them except one particular visual e ...
proposal for the 2010 Spitalfields Sculpture Prize Downriver further develops my established practice of making ‘dissected’ map sculptures. Previously, I have taken actual source maps and cut away everything from them except one particular visual e ...
W3653
15.05.2011
Modular trajectories - Nikolay Zanev
WWW
Modules (15X15X15cm.) polymer, Black board The distinction of homomorphism displayed on lattice of vectors relation between groups, modules generated by one element as identity component for every one. Correspondence one by one in specifics trajectorie ...
Modules (15X15X15cm.) polymer, Black board The distinction of homomorphism displayed on lattice of vectors relation between groups, modules generated by one element as identity component for every one. Correspondence one by one in specifics trajectorie ...
U9578
01.01.1997
Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry
Unbuilt Roads
Design Intent: The main purpose of a footbridge across the Thames should be more than to transport people most efficiently from point A to point B. We propose, instead, a bridge where sociality becomes the dominant practical purpose, a structure which ...
Design Intent: The main purpose of a footbridge across the Thames should be more than to transport people most efficiently from point A to point B. We propose, instead, a bridge where sociality becomes the dominant practical purpose, a structure which ...
U9973
23.01.1993
Brücke Wein-Kanal Arch. Hermann Czech, Wein - Franz West
Unbuilt Roads
Denen, die in dieselben Flüsse steigen, fließen immer neue Wasser zu , und (immer neue) Seelen entsteigen der Feuchtigkeit. Heraklit, Fragment 12[1] Linkes Brückenauflager Ansicht Nordwest M 1:33 ...
Denen, die in dieselben Flüsse steigen, fließen immer neue Wasser zu , und (immer neue) Seelen entsteigen der Feuchtigkeit. Heraklit, Fragment 12[1] Linkes Brückenauflager Ansicht Nordwest M 1:33 ...
W5016
30.08.2012
TOTEM WAR - WHEN ARCHITECTURE BECOMES RIVAL CLANS’ BATTLEFIELD - Martial MARQUET
WWW
TOTEM WAR - WHEN ARCHITECTURE BECOMES RIVAL CLANS’ BATTLEFIELD autors : Louisa Gouesnard, Martial Marquet, Nicolas Polaert. date : Jan 2011 Place : Sliznevo, RUSSIA. Dimensions : variables Materials : Wood/Steel What is happening in Sliznevo ? ...
TOTEM WAR - WHEN ARCHITECTURE BECOMES RIVAL CLANS’ BATTLEFIELD autors : Louisa Gouesnard, Martial Marquet, Nicolas Polaert. date : Jan 2011 Place : Sliznevo, RUSSIA. Dimensions : variables Materials : Wood/Steel What is happening in Sliznevo ? ...
W4367
25.05.2011
Trace  - Thessia Machado
WWW
Trace An interactive installation that allows the viewers to be part of a collaboration with previous visitors and the architecture of the exhibition space. A continuous record of people’s motion through space that engenders dynamic drawings and sound ...
Trace An interactive installation that allows the viewers to be part of a collaboration with previous visitors and the architecture of the exhibition space. A continuous record of people’s motion through space that engenders dynamic drawings and sound ...
W4828
07.08.2012
Anne Among the Living - Line Kallmayer
WWW
I intended to make a film, Anne Among The Living. I worked on it for a year and a half. We were very advanced in preproduction with many people involved, but the money could not be raised. The funders found it too experimental, too ambitious and risky. ...
I intended to make a film, Anne Among The Living. I worked on it for a year and a half. We were very advanced in preproduction with many people involved, but the money could not be raised. The funders found it too experimental, too ambitious and risky. ...
W3582
13.05.2011
Umfassung (verborgen) - Sabine Hagmann
WWW
Idee Der Perimeter des St. Johanns-Platz wird während einem Jahr exakt mit einer zweieinhalb Meter hohen Wand eingefasst. Sie schliesst das ganze Gelände ein, mit Rasen, Wegen und Parkbänken. Die kleine Rasenfläche wird durch die Wand als Volu ...
Idee Der Perimeter des St. Johanns-Platz wird während einem Jahr exakt mit einer zweieinhalb Meter hohen Wand eingefasst. Sie schliesst das ganze Gelände ein, mit Rasen, Wegen und Parkbänken. Die kleine Rasenfläche wird durch die Wand als Volu ...
W5009
30.08.2012
Structure for Formal and Material Imagination - Scott Massey
WWW
Structure for Formal and Material Imagination Travel to another dimension has long held our fascination. From Alice’s tentative leap down the rabbit hole, Wade Davis’ experients with the world’s psychotropic flora, or teleporting from the bridg ...
Structure for Formal and Material Imagination Travel to another dimension has long held our fascination. From Alice’s tentative leap down the rabbit hole, Wade Davis’ experients with the world’s psychotropic flora, or teleporting from the bridg ...
W4781
03.06.2011
City of Today: Development for Feminine Urbanism  - Coralina Meyer
WWW
City of Today: Development for Feminine Urbanism A proposal for a fresh urban perspective, the City of Today is a product of the Old Girls Club. It is a series of presentations/drawings/performances/historic fictions where clients are asked to parti ...
City of Today: Development for Feminine Urbanism A proposal for a fresh urban perspective, the City of Today is a product of the Old Girls Club. It is a series of presentations/drawings/performances/historic fictions where clients are asked to parti ...
W4465
25.05.2011
ExoMars - Lyn Hagan
WWW
The European Space Agency (ESA) currently runs a space exploration programme called Aurora which includes a planned robotic mission to the surface of Mars. The ExoMars rover will be sent in 2018 to gather and analyse data they receive and includes a nu ...
The European Space Agency (ESA) currently runs a space exploration programme called Aurora which includes a planned robotic mission to the surface of Mars. The ExoMars rover will be sent in 2018 to gather and analyse data they receive and includes a nu ...
W3630
14.05.2011
an excerpt from one of my abandoned writing projects  - Chad Dawkins
WWW
But everything is flawed. Everything is dirty, broken, missing pieces, damaged, too cold or hot, flimsy, smells, quits working. Everything produces an unpleasant sound. Nothing is as powerful as the possibility of impending public humiliation. It really b ...
But everything is flawed. Everything is dirty, broken, missing pieces, damaged, too cold or hot, flimsy, smells, quits working. Everything produces an unpleasant sound. Nothing is as powerful as the possibility of impending public humiliation. It really b ...
U9764
01.01.1974
Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas
Unbuilt Roads
Color/16m.m - 50 minutes/£800 JUST BEFORE DAWN by Davd Lamelas The project is basically an analysis of the elements by which narative primarily works on Film Narrative conventions. There is already something that we understand as "comme ...
Color/16m.m - 50 minutes/£800 JUST BEFORE DAWN by Davd Lamelas The project is basically an analysis of the elements by which narative primarily works on Film Narrative conventions. There is already something that we understand as "comme ...