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

Passage - Richard Wentworth

Nicht realisierte Projekte - Stefan Demary

"400" - Manfred Pernice

The World Record - General Idea

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

AUSSICHTSTURM, HOLZHAUS (WOHNHAUS), SCHWIMMBECKEN, FREIE FAHRT - Maria Eichhorn

Project 1 + Project 2 - Simryn Gill

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

La Guerra De Los Simbolos - Victor Grippo

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4311
24.05.2011
A contemporary folk dance  - Adam Lewin
WWW
A contemporary folk dance with mobility scooters. It has been a long tog time dream of mine to do a choreographed performance of the handicapped utilizing mobility scooters whilst filming it overhead in the style of a Busby Berkeley film. ...
A contemporary folk dance with mobility scooters. It has been a long tog time dream of mine to do a choreographed performance of the handicapped utilizing mobility scooters whilst filming it overhead in the style of a Busby Berkeley film. ...
W3888
20.05.2011
Self-Erasing Light Drawing - Aaron Bowles
WWW
“Self-Erasing Light Drawing” was part of a series of kinetic sculpture works that collectively explored the idea of ever-changing environments. Finding common ground with Mona Hatoum’s “Self-Erasing Drawing,” the piece replaced conventional art ...
“Self-Erasing Light Drawing” was part of a series of kinetic sculpture works that collectively explored the idea of ever-changing environments. Finding common ground with Mona Hatoum’s “Self-Erasing Drawing,” the piece replaced conventional art ...
W4690
26.05.2011
instant coffee artist collective
WWW
Instant Coffee is a service oriented collective of artists, curator and designers based in Vancouver and Toronto. Its frequent practice is to build architectural installations, which become venues for a series of organized events from formal lectures and ...
Instant Coffee is a service oriented collective of artists, curator and designers based in Vancouver and Toronto. Its frequent practice is to build architectural installations, which become venues for a series of organized events from formal lectures and ...
W4329
24.05.2011
Nicolau Tudela
WWW
This unfinished work was an installation based on the deficiency of the author. The base of the conception was in fact his right arm and it would reflect the, some what, painful and discomfort feelings that the author felt and feels about and with it. The ...
This unfinished work was an installation based on the deficiency of the author. The base of the conception was in fact his right arm and it would reflect the, some what, painful and discomfort feelings that the author felt and feels about and with it. The ...
W4453
25.05.2011
Myopian fields - Stephanie Gerner
WWW
Myopian fields , proposal (2010) This exhibition uses the notion of a virtual landscape as its structural foundation, materialised as a small theatre set or abstract film studio, playing with our conceptions of the natural and the man-made, the environ ...
Myopian fields , proposal (2010) This exhibition uses the notion of a virtual landscape as its structural foundation, materialised as a small theatre set or abstract film studio, playing with our conceptions of the natural and the man-made, the environ ...
W3710
17.05.2011
New business complex for The public company Electro-Slovenija - ARB, Slovenia
WWW
The project was presented at a competition for a new business complex for The public company Electro-Slovenija. The project is characterized by thin folded blades, containing open-volume, offices, making a perfect ground for photovoltaic. ...
The project was presented at a competition for a new business complex for The public company Electro-Slovenija. The project is characterized by thin folded blades, containing open-volume, offices, making a perfect ground for photovoltaic. ...
W4066
23.05.2011
Public Phones - János Sugár
WWW
My work is a public telephone located centrally in a city, or in the lobby of a public building. There is a board above the telephone on which is written: "This is a free phone, but the conversations are being recorded and published later word by word." ...
My work is a public telephone located centrally in a city, or in the lobby of a public building. There is a board above the telephone on which is written: "This is a free phone, but the conversations are being recorded and published later word by word." ...
W4686
26.05.2011
1. Corners from "The New York Times" front page. - Linda Stillman
WWW
Unrealized projects 1. Corners from "The New York Times" front page. I have been tearing and storing a piece of paper, the capsule weather report, from "The New York Times" for years. I once made a wall installation with a year of these corners (see ph ...
Unrealized projects 1. Corners from "The New York Times" front page. I have been tearing and storing a piece of paper, the capsule weather report, from "The New York Times" for years. I once made a wall installation with a year of these corners (see ph ...
W5026
31.08.2012
Blow Job - Peter Friedl
WWW
Blow Job Peter Friedl Proposal, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2004 Blow Job (working title) is an exhibition project dealing with theatricality and its media possibilities. In the form of a monographically structured project, I treat various themes with wh ...
Blow Job Peter Friedl Proposal, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2004 Blow Job (working title) is an exhibition project dealing with theatricality and its media possibilities. In the form of a monographically structured project, I treat various themes with wh ...
W4983
27.08.2012
Tappeto Rosso - Judit Pusztaszeri
WWW
“Tappeto Rosso” Tappeto Rosso is a site-specific installation, which served as the preliminary stage of an architectural design. The installation was the result of an in-depth research process addressing various issues surrounding the site known ...
“Tappeto Rosso” Tappeto Rosso is a site-specific installation, which served as the preliminary stage of an architectural design. The installation was the result of an in-depth research process addressing various issues surrounding the site known ...
W5000
30.08.2012
Kosuth Instruction Piece - Conny Blom
WWW
Conny Blom Kosuth Instruction Piece Text on A4. The Tributes is a growing series of loving, but somewhat humorous remakes of classic works of art by artists like John Baldessari, Bas Jan Ader, Douglas Gordon and more. Conny Blom remakes pieces that hav ...
Conny Blom Kosuth Instruction Piece Text on A4. The Tributes is a growing series of loving, but somewhat humorous remakes of classic works of art by artists like John Baldessari, Bas Jan Ader, Douglas Gordon and more. Conny Blom remakes pieces that hav ...
W5286
16.10.2012
Cove - Jerry Monteith
WWW
Cove Cove is a site work that would be made of earth, concrete and aluminum. The bulk of the mass is earth, which would be compacted and finished with a layer of topsoil. The curved wall, two orange vertical panels and the cone would all need to have s ...
Cove Cove is a site work that would be made of earth, concrete and aluminum. The bulk of the mass is earth, which would be compacted and finished with a layer of topsoil. The curved wall, two orange vertical panels and the cone would all need to have s ...
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 ...
W4777
02.06.2011
No Success like Failure - Daniel Permanetter
WWW
NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE “She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.” (Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/ No Limit” 1965) The work consists of two parts. One is a scaffolding construction holding approximately ...
NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE “She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.” (Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/ No Limit” 1965) The work consists of two parts. One is a scaffolding construction holding approximately ...
W5896
18.10.2013
Golf course - Matthijs Muller
WWW
Golf courses are artificial landscapes with artificial hills and small artificial sand dunes. Now imagine a golf course (in the Netherlands, in the meadows), without those artificial hills and the small sand dunes replaced by metal versions on poles to pu ...
Golf courses are artificial landscapes with artificial hills and small artificial sand dunes. Now imagine a golf course (in the Netherlands, in the meadows), without those artificial hills and the small sand dunes replaced by metal versions on poles to pu ...
W3652
15.05.2011
Dederon – The Fabric of the East - Daniel Blochwitz
WWW
One of the most complex and yet unrealized projects of mine is “Dederon – The Fabric of the East” (2003-present), which literally uses the (polyester) thread named after the DDR (engl.: G.D.R.) to trace the initially noble and ambitious project of e ...
One of the most complex and yet unrealized projects of mine is “Dederon – The Fabric of the East” (2003-present), which literally uses the (polyester) thread named after the DDR (engl.: G.D.R.) to trace the initially noble and ambitious project of e ...
W5390
20.10.2012
Jesvin Yeo
WWW
Unrealized Project by Jesvin Yeo The initial intention of this project was to design and create a series of dolls to illustrate the dark period of Singapore in 1950s. When there had been more than 30 secret societies and almost everyday, there were gan ...
Unrealized Project by Jesvin Yeo The initial intention of this project was to design and create a series of dolls to illustrate the dark period of Singapore in 1950s. When there had been more than 30 secret societies and almost everyday, there were gan ...
W5115
17.09.2012
Eine Ontologie des Paradies - Juan Fernando
WWW
Eine Ontologie des Paradies: die Kunst als Illusion. "Was verstehe ich unter Natur? Unter Natur verstehe ich, das erste innere Prinzip, des Seins eines Dinges. (...) Das ist was wirklich existiert". -„Kritik der reinen Vernunft“. Immanuel Kant ...
Eine Ontologie des Paradies: die Kunst als Illusion. "Was verstehe ich unter Natur? Unter Natur verstehe ich, das erste innere Prinzip, des Seins eines Dinges. (...) Das ist was wirklich existiert". -„Kritik der reinen Vernunft“. Immanuel Kant ...
W4867
09.08.2012
Clonenberg - Maciej Toporowicz
WWW
Clonenberg is multinational consortium created to advance genetic engineering, artificial intelligence and molecular nanotechnology Since the eve of technological singularity we have been able to give life to reliable and superior transhumans capable of ...
Clonenberg is multinational consortium created to advance genetic engineering, artificial intelligence and molecular nanotechnology Since the eve of technological singularity we have been able to give life to reliable and superior transhumans capable of ...
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 ...
W4293
24.05.2011
BATIBURRILLO(S) - BATIBURRILLOS
WWW
BATIBURRILLO(S) According to the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language (RAE) ‘Batiburrillo(s)’ means: 1. m. Mezcla de cosas, especialmente de guisados, que no dicen bien unas con otras. 1. m. Mixture of things, especially stews, t ...
BATIBURRILLO(S) According to the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language (RAE) ‘Batiburrillo(s)’ means: 1. m. Mezcla de cosas, especialmente de guisados, que no dicen bien unas con otras. 1. m. Mixture of things, especially stews, t ...
W5049
03.09.2012
Civic Centre in Salburua  - Taller Basico de Arquitectura [TBA]
WWW
Civic Centre in Salburua (2009) The expansion of the city towards the peripheral neighborhoods has occupied the green limits between the inhabited zone and the world. These areas still retain their limit character, and they don’t appear on the city a ...
Civic Centre in Salburua (2009) The expansion of the city towards the peripheral neighborhoods has occupied the green limits between the inhabited zone and the world. These areas still retain their limit character, and they don’t appear on the city a ...
W5284
16.10.2012
Natalia Ludmila
WWW
The project was based on the realisation of a certain number of dérives throughout the city-state of Singapore, in which an extensive visual and sound documentation would be carried out. This material consecutively was to be used to reconstruct the ci ...
The project was based on the realisation of a certain number of dérives throughout the city-state of Singapore, in which an extensive visual and sound documentation would be carried out. This material consecutively was to be used to reconstruct the ci ...
W4795
14.06.2011
Scott Redford
WWW
I propose that in the spirit of Wikileaks all Hans Ulrich Obrist and Serpentine Gallery notes, documents, papers and files including financial matters be published online. Let's see how the New Curator Romantics who wet their pants over Assange respond to ...
I propose that in the spirit of Wikileaks all Hans Ulrich Obrist and Serpentine Gallery notes, documents, papers and files including financial matters be published online. Let's see how the New Curator Romantics who wet their pants over Assange respond to ...
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 ...
W5029
31.08.2012
Marsh Islands - Mags Harries & Lajos Heder
WWW
Mags Harries & Lajos Héder Marsh Islands Location: South Bay Harbor Trails, Boston, MA (Proposal 2006) Client: South Bay Harbor Trail Public Art Initiative, Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund of the City of Boston Material: Marsh grass, steel, structural ...
Mags Harries & Lajos Héder Marsh Islands Location: South Bay Harbor Trails, Boston, MA (Proposal 2006) Client: South Bay Harbor Trail Public Art Initiative, Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund of the City of Boston Material: Marsh grass, steel, structural ...