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.

654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha

Uncompleted 1966 - and on  - John Armleder

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

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

Merci, Thank you, Danke: Les 2 sujets  - Thomas Hirschorn

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

Notebook Page: Home in the Form of a Banana with Garage,  - Claes Oldenburg

PROJECT FOR A COMMUNITY CENTER, AVENUE DES NARCISSES, CHENOVE - Vito Acconci

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4165
23.05.2011
Seacarus - Mark Požlep, Saša Šuštar
WWW
The project is a flying construct with an aluminium body of a catamaran and two bicycle-like-systems with pedals (run by two people), connected to two propellers. It flies on 6 helium-filled baloons (5 m diameter) each of them carrying 65 kg, all together ...
The project is a flying construct with an aluminium body of a catamaran and two bicycle-like-systems with pedals (run by two people), connected to two propellers. It flies on 6 helium-filled baloons (5 m diameter) each of them carrying 65 kg, all together ...
W5133
19.09.2012
Lost Heritage in Dark Museum  - Yochai Avrahami
WWW
Lost Heritage in Dark Museum - Yochai Avrahami The project suggests installation of few displays, that uses "left overs" of various practices of museology. these practices where inspired by research, observing, interviews and other methods in museums an ...
Lost Heritage in Dark Museum - Yochai Avrahami The project suggests installation of few displays, that uses "left overs" of various practices of museology. these practices where inspired by research, observing, interviews and other methods in museums an ...
W4723
26.05.2011
DIY Art Collecting - Broc Blegen
WWW
DIY Art Collecting Since last spring I’ve been developing a curatorial/collecting practice to develop a ‘Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Art Collection.’ I’ve always wanted to collect and live with really great art, but I could never afford to purchase ...
DIY Art Collecting Since last spring I’ve been developing a curatorial/collecting practice to develop a ‘Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Art Collection.’ I’ve always wanted to collect and live with really great art, but I could never afford to purchase ...
W4339
24.05.2011
On Loan - Julie Rafalski
WWW
On Loan Proposal: The entire collection of copies (222 books) of Thomas More’s Utopia that belong to the British Library will be borrowed for a given time period.* All copies of the book will be physically removed from the library on a given ...
On Loan Proposal: The entire collection of copies (222 books) of Thomas More’s Utopia that belong to the British Library will be borrowed for a given time period.* All copies of the book will be physically removed from the library on a given ...
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 ...
W4501
25.05.2011
My Modern Life
WWW
My Modern Life _ text The project shows the search of young Latvians for indivudual aims, wishes, planes, freedom and others – in Latvian, English, German and Russian. It is an interdisciplinary project of film, photography and interverntion i ...
My Modern Life _ text The project shows the search of young Latvians for indivudual aims, wishes, planes, freedom and others – in Latvian, English, German and Russian. It is an interdisciplinary project of film, photography and interverntion i ...
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 ...
W5902
18.10.2013
Waterland - Matthijs Muller
WWW
Waterland is floating like a boat but has the appearance of an island. The busy city life suggested by the lampposts and traffic signs is alienated by the flexibility of the islands ground surface. Every wave in the water makes the pavement and poles mov ...
Waterland is floating like a boat but has the appearance of an island. The busy city life suggested by the lampposts and traffic signs is alienated by the flexibility of the islands ground surface. Every wave in the water makes the pavement and poles mov ...
W3741
18.05.2011
Phantasmagorie - James Chinneck
WWW
Phantasmagorie will be a large scale multi-sited new media artwork involving a train with no passengers traveling around the United Kingdom after dark, pulling approximately nine carriages. ...
Phantasmagorie will be a large scale multi-sited new media artwork involving a train with no passengers traveling around the United Kingdom after dark, pulling approximately nine carriages. ...
W3878
19.05.2011
SCISSORGATE - Derek Michael Besant
WWW
SCISSORGATE Client: Banker’s Hall Downtown Tower Entry / Calgary Alberta Canada Date: 2003 Based on the child’s game; Scissors, Paper, Rock, these giant forms create an obstacle course of forms akin to a Japanese Garden. The offset wall where t ...
SCISSORGATE Client: Banker’s Hall Downtown Tower Entry / Calgary Alberta Canada Date: 2003 Based on the child’s game; Scissors, Paper, Rock, these giant forms create an obstacle course of forms akin to a Japanese Garden. The offset wall where t ...
W5151
24.09.2012
Studiolo - Angelika Böck
WWW
STUDIOLO (seit 2006) ist eine als Archiv funktionierende Klanginstallation, die VertreterInnen verschiedener Disziplinen rund um die Thematik Erkenntnis befragt. Auf den ersten Blick gibt es nicht viel zu sehen: ein weißer, mit Texten bedeckter Kubus, de ...
STUDIOLO (seit 2006) ist eine als Archiv funktionierende Klanginstallation, die VertreterInnen verschiedener Disziplinen rund um die Thematik Erkenntnis befragt. Auf den ersten Blick gibt es nicht viel zu sehen: ein weißer, mit Texten bedeckter Kubus, de ...
W3504
11.05.2011
Global Culture - ALBERTO LICANDRO
WWW
Image 1: 1000mt highrise tower on 1 column with 52 steel cables around its supporting structure visible from street level to 500mt up, where the first of its 68 floors for restaurant space (20 floors), office space (30 floors) and living space (18 floors) ...
Image 1: 1000mt highrise tower on 1 column with 52 steel cables around its supporting structure visible from street level to 500mt up, where the first of its 68 floors for restaurant space (20 floors), office space (30 floors) and living space (18 floors) ...
W3631
14.05.2011
Joseph Wheelwright
WWW
When New Hampshire's "Old Man in the Mountain" collapsed in 2003, I carved this stone model for a new old man from an entire mountain. Unfortunately funding has not yet materialized. ...
When New Hampshire's "Old Man in the Mountain" collapsed in 2003, I carved this stone model for a new old man from an entire mountain. Unfortunately funding has not yet materialized. ...
W3875
19.05.2011
TERRITORY: Bank parking lot mural Canada - Derek Michael Besant
WWW
Client: Bank of Nova Scotia / Canada Date: 2010 Industrial UV ink imaging applications to large-scale alucobond curtainwall sheets at second storey level attached in sections that create a narrative of: • Out-of-focus faces • Everyday objects ...
Client: Bank of Nova Scotia / Canada Date: 2010 Industrial UV ink imaging applications to large-scale alucobond curtainwall sheets at second storey level attached in sections that create a narrative of: • Out-of-focus faces • Everyday objects ...
W3844
19.05.2011
I want to do the laundry; or rather I want to finish the laundry - Svava Thordis Juliusson
WWW
TO: Agency of Unrealized Projects I want to do the laundry; or rather I want to finish the laundry. It is a project that poses vague theoretical and aesthetic questions, but to explore possible ways to put an end to this task could forever change the t ...
TO: Agency of Unrealized Projects I want to do the laundry; or rather I want to finish the laundry. It is a project that poses vague theoretical and aesthetic questions, but to explore possible ways to put an end to this task could forever change the t ...
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 ...
W5142
21.09.2012
The White Box - Vdrey feat Schultz
WWW
PRESENTATION This performance created in 2010 by musician and performer VDREY and SCHULTZ was presented in 2010 and 2011 in various countries such as France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland or Poland. In order to made a new alternative to their perfo ...
PRESENTATION This performance created in 2010 by musician and performer VDREY and SCHULTZ was presented in 2010 and 2011 in various countries such as France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland or Poland. In order to made a new alternative to their perfo ...
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 ...
W4353
25.05.2011
Circular escalator - Ricardo Gomes
WWW
Circular escalator Through our research of the City of Perth’s master plan, the public success of the revitalization of Forrest Place not only depends upon the current restructuring already under way in the vicinity, but also upon the creation of a n ...
Circular escalator Through our research of the City of Perth’s master plan, the public success of the revitalization of Forrest Place not only depends upon the current restructuring already under way in the vicinity, but also upon the creation of a n ...
W4552
25.05.2011
Untitled - Charmi Gada Shah
WWW
Title: ‘Untitled’ Description: This is a sketch for a site-specific work wherein the façade of a gallery in Mumbai is superimposed by another façade in London, constructed by means of a photographic reference taken by the artist many years ago ...
Title: ‘Untitled’ Description: This is a sketch for a site-specific work wherein the façade of a gallery in Mumbai is superimposed by another façade in London, constructed by means of a photographic reference taken by the artist many years ago ...
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 ...
W5232
08.10.2012
Protest in Abstract - John O'Hare
WWW
Protest in Abstract: Proposal Introduction It is increasingly common for protests to occur against historical and iconic backdrops, inserting a voice of resistance that, too, takes on the qualities of iconography and history. With its carnival atmosph ...
Protest in Abstract: Proposal Introduction It is increasingly common for protests to occur against historical and iconic backdrops, inserting a voice of resistance that, too, takes on the qualities of iconography and history. With its carnival atmosph ...
W3870
19.05.2011
Small room of expression - erik mavrič
WWW
Description of the project The idea of the project is making structures that are based on the interference between the flat surface and light source. An intense light will be directed at the surface which will be positioned against the wall. The projec ...
Description of the project The idea of the project is making structures that are based on the interference between the flat surface and light source. An intense light will be directed at the surface which will be positioned against the wall. The projec ...
W4369
25.05.2011
Importance of some Note - Qi.ng
WWW
Importance of some Note 12x8" Digital capture of graphite on 3x3" scrap paper I once had a mentor who would grouse on about the term 'art projects', as though these were something that had a distinct end and finish. The debate would always return to ...
Importance of some Note 12x8" Digital capture of graphite on 3x3" scrap paper I once had a mentor who would grouse on about the term 'art projects', as though these were something that had a distinct end and finish. The debate would always return to ...
W5419
20.10.2012
UTOPIAS ARE FOR BIRDS - Alvaro Urbano
WWW
UTOPIAS ARE FOR BIRDS 2012 - Ongoing Utopia is a non-place, a good-place. Utopia is defined as an idyllic society with a legal system and socio-political ideals, a society living in harmony, between geographical dislocation and intellectual positivi ...
UTOPIAS ARE FOR BIRDS 2012 - Ongoing Utopia is a non-place, a good-place. Utopia is defined as an idyllic society with a legal system and socio-political ideals, a society living in harmony, between geographical dislocation and intellectual positivi ...
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 ...