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.

No title, as the project only reached proposal stage - Rikrit Tiravanija

654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha

Project 1 + Project 2 - Simryn Gill

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

The insurer - Fabrice Hybert

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4960
20.08.2012
Exit - Darko Aleksovski
WWW
Darko Aleksovski Name of the project: EXIT participatory and research art project EXIT is a series of interventions in open, public space that can be anywhere except the space of organized walking (main streets, boulevards, city squares etc). The ...
Darko Aleksovski Name of the project: EXIT participatory and research art project EXIT is a series of interventions in open, public space that can be anywhere except the space of organized walking (main streets, boulevards, city squares etc). The ...
W3971
21.05.2011
Unrealized Public Art Projects - Silvia Martí Marí (Spain)
WWW
Public Art Projects The Listener P.L.S. (“Public Listening Services –mobile unit-”). (“El escuchador. S. M. E. (Servicio Municipal Escuchador -unidad móvil-”). A public art project to provide a public and free mobile service -in the stre ...
Public Art Projects The Listener P.L.S. (“Public Listening Services –mobile unit-”). (“El escuchador. S. M. E. (Servicio Municipal Escuchador -unidad móvil-”). A public art project to provide a public and free mobile service -in the stre ...
W3668
15.05.2011
The Lift (Reprise) - Kevin Rodgers
WWW
The Lift (Reprise), or I will not confuse libertarian hallucinations with practical investment advice. I will not confuse libertarian hallucinations with practical investment advice. I wi ...
The Lift (Reprise), or I will not confuse libertarian hallucinations with practical investment advice. I will not confuse libertarian hallucinations with practical investment advice. I wi ...
W3748
18.05.2011
SPOT ON - John Gayer
WWW
Proposed in 2009, SPOT ON could be described as participatory pointillism. My idea was relatively simple. It involved making stamping materials (circular rubber stamps + ink/paint pads in a range of colours) available to viewers so that each could contrib ...
Proposed in 2009, SPOT ON could be described as participatory pointillism. My idea was relatively simple. It involved making stamping materials (circular rubber stamps + ink/paint pads in a range of colours) available to viewers so that each could contrib ...
W5086
09.09.2012
Underwater Forest - Hans Feyerabend
WWW
Underwater Forest Suspended sculpture for Palmetto Bay Village Hall, Florida Underwater Forest is a large sculptural installation suspended from a 30’ ceiling, measuring 18’ in diameter. Its formal language derived from amorphous maritime life. Th ...
Underwater Forest Suspended sculpture for Palmetto Bay Village Hall, Florida Underwater Forest is a large sculptural installation suspended from a 30’ ceiling, measuring 18’ in diameter. Its formal language derived from amorphous maritime life. Th ...
W5096
12.09.2012
Kelly Malec-Kosak
WWW
W5382
19.10.2012
Marina Stavrou
WWW
By Marina Stavrou The ‘Unrealized project’ I am foreshadowing made its first ‘appearance’ first in 2011. The work tried to make visible the experience of keeping a secret. This secret took the form of bread for the shooting of a 16mm and ...
By Marina Stavrou The ‘Unrealized project’ I am foreshadowing made its first ‘appearance’ first in 2011. The work tried to make visible the experience of keeping a secret. This secret took the form of bread for the shooting of a 16mm and ...
W4966
22.08.2012
Bed-line - Efi Spyrou
WWW
Efi’s video “bed-line” invites us to mentally traverse a sterile, claustrophobic environment that includes more than one single spatial dimension in its space and more than one single temporal dimension in time. It emanates the energy of the absent, ...
Efi’s video “bed-line” invites us to mentally traverse a sterile, claustrophobic environment that includes more than one single spatial dimension in its space and more than one single temporal dimension in time. It emanates the energy of the absent, ...
W4994
30.08.2012
democraticrain.net - c a l c (omi - Thomas Scheiderbauer)
WWW
democraticrain.net is based on the idea of giving a “printed voice” to people in a concrete context on the interface between inside > < outside and the individual > < collective. it allows to create and send black and white A4-statements or -images t ...
democraticrain.net is based on the idea of giving a “printed voice” to people in a concrete context on the interface between inside > < outside and the individual > < collective. it allows to create and send black and white A4-statements or -images t ...
W4153
23.05.2011
Unrealized Projects 1997 —2002 - Cornford & Cross
WWW
For us, a key function of contemporary art in an open society is to test concepts, assumptions and boundaries. One way we do this is through making site-specific work in public places; our projects are often satirical or polemic in nature, and involve a d ...
For us, a key function of contemporary art in an open society is to test concepts, assumptions and boundaries. One way we do this is through making site-specific work in public places; our projects are often satirical or polemic in nature, and involve a d ...
W4411
25.05.2011
PROJECT SUN RITE „GRAVITATION“ REAL LIFE  - Maria Dundakova
WWW
PROJECT SUN RITE „GRAVITATION“ REAL LIFE place of communication = city of transformation Contribution for the first international Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition 2010, Abu Dhabi The project is an open-ended work, a WORK I ...
PROJECT SUN RITE „GRAVITATION“ REAL LIFE place of communication = city of transformation Contribution for the first international Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) design competition 2010, Abu Dhabi The project is an open-ended work, a WORK I ...
W5174
26.09.2012
Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool - Charlie Coffey
WWW
Title: Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) Date: 2007 Medium: Biro sketch on A4 office paper (unframed) Charlie Coffey Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) ...
Title: Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) Date: 2007 Medium: Biro sketch on A4 office paper (unframed) Charlie Coffey Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) ...
W4246
24.05.2011
Untitled project - Nobuo Yoda
WWW
Untitled project Nobuo Yoda This project is a proposal for Daikanyama Installation 2009 that was rejected. Daikanyama Installation 2009 is a call for installations that is held every two years in Daikanyama area (Meguro Ward), ...
Untitled project Nobuo Yoda This project is a proposal for Daikanyama Installation 2009 that was rejected. Daikanyama Installation 2009 is a call for installations that is held every two years in Daikanyama area (Meguro Ward), ...
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 ...
W4517
25.05.2011
”I did go upstairs but I didn’t see nobody but me” - Daniel Permanetter
WWW
The work is a room installation basically consisting of a live-sized Bob Dylan puppet and an old wooden staircase. The staircase will be rebuild so it appears to be frozen in a crumbling movement. The whole installation is meant to resemble the interior o ...
The work is a room installation basically consisting of a live-sized Bob Dylan puppet and an old wooden staircase. The staircase will be rebuild so it appears to be frozen in a crumbling movement. The whole installation is meant to resemble the interior o ...
W4325
24.05.2011
Valery Koroshilov
WWW
A proposal for a mural "Artist's Studio" in a corporate environment interior, London 2010 ...
A proposal for a mural "Artist's Studio" in a corporate environment interior, London 2010 ...
W4132
23.05.2011
A Labyrinth of Illusions - Jerzy Olek
WWW
A Labyrinth of Illusions The exhibition would present my works from the series “The Dimensionslessness of Illusion”. Drawings, photographs, collages, computer graphics and stereomontages–all reflecting the variety of techniques used in the const ...
A Labyrinth of Illusions The exhibition would present my works from the series “The Dimensionslessness of Illusion”. Drawings, photographs, collages, computer graphics and stereomontages–all reflecting the variety of techniques used in the const ...
W4354
25.05.2011
The Collider - Ivan Isaev, Nikita Spiridonov
WWW
At all times man’s course of life as a whole and spiritual in particular embodies in the art. There was many attempts in the history of art to curb the human essence, to understand the meaning of life, purpose, place in nature finally all human natur ...
At all times man’s course of life as a whole and spiritual in particular embodies in the art. There was many attempts in the history of art to curb the human essence, to understand the meaning of life, purpose, place in nature finally all human natur ...
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 ...
W4261
24.05.2011
The Bridge (Installation) - Arcady Kotler
WWW
Arcady Kotler The Bridge (Installation) Installation “The Bridge” is represented by a fragile rope bridge suspended over the exhibition space from wall to wall. The ropes and strings are tied in a way that resembles the appearance of New York ...
Arcady Kotler The Bridge (Installation) Installation “The Bridge” is represented by a fragile rope bridge suspended over the exhibition space from wall to wall. The ropes and strings are tied in a way that resembles the appearance of New York ...
W3859
19.05.2011
Waiting room: A History of Doing Nothing and a Long Tale of Useful Action - Guillermo E. Rodriguez Rivera
WWW
G A L E R I A M A N G O S T A 23 June – 31 July 2011 402 Muñoz Rivera Ave FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Galeria Mangosta is pleased to present Waiting room: a history of doing nothing and a long tale of useful action. Looking at the pivotal role of ...
G A L E R I A M A N G O S T A 23 June – 31 July 2011 402 Muñoz Rivera Ave FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Galeria Mangosta is pleased to present Waiting room: a history of doing nothing and a long tale of useful action. Looking at the pivotal role of ...
W10357
18.04.2014
After The Flood - Ingrid Mayrhofer
WWW
This project marks the last exhibition of a selection of works on paper from my past 30 years in printmaking, photography and painting. During the July 2013 storm, my basement studio was flooded, and 60 pieces of my artwork were damaged. While the water d ...
This project marks the last exhibition of a selection of works on paper from my past 30 years in printmaking, photography and painting. During the July 2013 storm, my basement studio was flooded, and 60 pieces of my artwork were damaged. While the water d ...
W4123
23.05.2011
MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND  - Deborah A Bouchette
WWW
MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND 1 MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND Deborah A. Bouchette 05 May 2009 MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND 2 What do we have, but memory? Even the “present” is consumed immediately, and our very recognition of “now” makes ...
MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND 1 MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND Deborah A. Bouchette 05 May 2009 MEMORY UPGRADE FOR ATTU ISLAND 2 What do we have, but memory? Even the “present” is consumed immediately, and our very recognition of “now” makes ...
W4351
24.05.2011
R118 G223 B209 - Walter Benjamin Smith
WWW
Walter Benjamin Smith, R118 G223 B209, 2010- 2035, 40” x 68”, enamel on panel R118 G223 B209 is a billboard-like panel that color matches, at full saturation, the scaffolding surrounding the Manhattanville demolition site. This color has multi ...
Walter Benjamin Smith, R118 G223 B209, 2010- 2035, 40” x 68”, enamel on panel R118 G223 B209 is a billboard-like panel that color matches, at full saturation, the scaffolding surrounding the Manhattanville demolition site. This color has multi ...
W4161
23.05.2011
Failure - Pauline Hanson
WWW
http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=72 http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=78 ...
http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=72 http://www.severalpursuits.org/?pageid=78 ...
W4361
25.05.2011
Drapeaux : Symboles d’identité (Flags : Symbols of Identity) - Alfonso Arzapalo
WWW
Drapeaux : Symboles d’identité (Flags : Symbols of Identity) Flag No. 44 From the series: Flags The project was a proposal for the Manif d'Art 2008, in Quebec City whose theme was "la rencontre" (the get together) and was part of the 400 anniv ...
Drapeaux : Symboles d’identité (Flags : Symbols of Identity) Flag No. 44 From the series: Flags The project was a proposal for the Manif d'Art 2008, in Quebec City whose theme was "la rencontre" (the get together) and was part of the 400 anniv ...