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.

den anonymen Tod ausstellen - Gregor Schneider

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

The World Record - General Idea

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Mahe Gilles

Ruderaltisch, 1994/95 Kunst am Bau - Projekt - Lois Weinberger

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4256
24.05.2011
APOTHEOSIS - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL APOTHEOSIS, 1994 Proposal for Pier 32, Hudson River, New York City ,Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City, Public Art Fund, Paine Webber Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue) Project Description: We are ch ...
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL APOTHEOSIS, 1994 Proposal for Pier 32, Hudson River, New York City ,Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City, Public Art Fund, Paine Webber Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue) Project Description: We are ch ...
W4224
24.05.2011
The Hand of God - Magnus Monfeldt
WWW
The Hand of God This unrealized art project from 2005 involves casting the left hand of Escolastico Berto Mendez; a famous Diego Maradona look-a-like who has sacrificed his own identity to make a living being photographed around Buenos Aires suburb La ...
The Hand of God This unrealized art project from 2005 involves casting the left hand of Escolastico Berto Mendez; a famous Diego Maradona look-a-like who has sacrificed his own identity to make a living being photographed around Buenos Aires suburb La ...
W4363
25.05.2011
Brandon Walls Olsen
WWW
Passing by the neighboring quarters of a sightseeing tour business named “Incredible Adventures”, I found that the acronymous vinyl lettering had been scratched from their door’s signage. Not knowing why a company would make such a nonsensical alter ...
Passing by the neighboring quarters of a sightseeing tour business named “Incredible Adventures”, I found that the acronymous vinyl lettering had been scratched from their door’s signage. Not knowing why a company would make such a nonsensical alter ...
W5343
18.10.2012
Unrealized project proposal for AUP  - Lito Kattou & Leontios Toumpouris
WWW
Unrealized project proposal for AUP Willing to continue investigating our relationship with natural components of the environment and expanding the development of the project in progress “Untitled dualism”, it would be a matter of great interest f ...
Unrealized project proposal for AUP Willing to continue investigating our relationship with natural components of the environment and expanding the development of the project in progress “Untitled dualism”, it would be a matter of great interest f ...
W4910
14.08.2012
General Valeriano Weyler - Daniela Ortiz in collaboration with Xose Quiroga
WWW
GENERAL VALERIANO WEYLER by Daniela Ortiz & Xose Quiroga The Spanish nation constantly recognises as national pride personalities as Christopher Columbus, Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro or Hernan Cortés; diverse streets, plazas and monuments re ...
GENERAL VALERIANO WEYLER by Daniela Ortiz & Xose Quiroga The Spanish nation constantly recognises as national pride personalities as Christopher Columbus, Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro or Hernan Cortés; diverse streets, plazas and monuments re ...
W4105
23.05.2011
Dazzle Study #10 an onwards     - Håvard Pedersen
WWW
Dazzle Study #10 an onwards were to be a series of abstract artwork, both site specific work and as individual sculptures, based on the theory of Dazzle Camouflage. The camouflage, credited to the English painter Norman Wilkinson, where first used during ...
Dazzle Study #10 an onwards were to be a series of abstract artwork, both site specific work and as individual sculptures, based on the theory of Dazzle Camouflage. The camouflage, credited to the English painter Norman Wilkinson, where first used during ...
W3823
19.05.2011
Unproduction Network - Stefan Riebel
WWW
10 | to not realise | media space effort, time | June 2009 After one month of intense research and conceptual effort I have fully worked out a new interactive crossmedia project. Kunst ist heute fast überall zu jeder Zeit und für jeden Zweck v ...
10 | to not realise | media space effort, time | June 2009 After one month of intense research and conceptual effort I have fully worked out a new interactive crossmedia project. Kunst ist heute fast überall zu jeder Zeit und für jeden Zweck v ...
W3781
18.05.2011
Squatting Abandoned Villages - Hannah Kaihovirta-Rosvik
WWW
The vision was that this art project would examine how to visualize contemporary art in a rural area and to make a social art project involving local community in art. Brief project concept The Social Art Project IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is an artist ...
The vision was that this art project would examine how to visualize contemporary art in a rural area and to make a social art project involving local community in art. Brief project concept The Social Art Project IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is an artist ...
W4758
27.05.2011
A Witch Diary - Megumi Shimizu
WWW
“A witch diary _ great grandmother _” When I was a child, I lived in the grandmother house for about 6 month. Her house is very old wooden Japanese style home. And the main gate is opened only for guests coming; usually ...
“A witch diary _ great grandmother _” When I was a child, I lived in the grandmother house for about 6 month. Her house is very old wooden Japanese style home. And the main gate is opened only for guests coming; usually ...
W4020
22.05.2011
Rural pleasure trip / an investigation of sounds - Gisela Weimann
WWW
Gisela Weimann >www.giselaweimann.de< Since the 80s the focal points of my projects are sound installations and experimental music-theatre productions that include artists and theorists from different fields and national descend. Gisela Weimann ...
Gisela Weimann >www.giselaweimann.de< Since the 80s the focal points of my projects are sound installations and experimental music-theatre productions that include artists and theorists from different fields and national descend. Gisela Weimann ...
W4793
13.06.2011
Between, Between, no More and Drink a Chair - Natalie Bell
WWW
This is a consciously utopian project aiming to create a very accessible and affordable pocket-sized handbook of English for Spanish-speaking immigrants in New York City. SEE PDF ...
This is a consciously utopian project aiming to create a very accessible and affordable pocket-sized handbook of English for Spanish-speaking immigrants in New York City. SEE PDF ...
W10936
22.06.2015
THORAX - Marion Inglessi
WWW
When we are sick, we are vulnerable. Increasingly assailed by medicine, we maintain a fearful and passive attitude towards our health and therapy, an attitude of hopeful expectation which often has an uncertain outcome. The Sotiria Project, Memory and ...
When we are sick, we are vulnerable. Increasingly assailed by medicine, we maintain a fearful and passive attitude towards our health and therapy, an attitude of hopeful expectation which often has an uncertain outcome. The Sotiria Project, Memory and ...
W10503
05.05.2014
Brookside Re-seen - Nicky Hamlyn
WWW
The project is a film that would have been made in Brookside Close, Liverpool, the actually existing cul-de-sac of houses in which the long-running TV soap opera 'Brookside' (1982 - 2003) was filmed and set. My plan was to go to Brookside Close and make a ...
The project is a film that would have been made in Brookside Close, Liverpool, the actually existing cul-de-sac of houses in which the long-running TV soap opera 'Brookside' (1982 - 2003) was filmed and set. My plan was to go to Brookside Close and make a ...
W4148
23.05.2011
The Ambassadors - Cornford & Cross
WWW
The Ambassadors 2001 We were invited to submit proposals for the 2002 Liverpool Biennial. Our proposal, titled The Ambassadors, would have consisted of a set of flags of those nations with which HM Government did not maintain diplomatic relations. The ...
The Ambassadors 2001 We were invited to submit proposals for the 2002 Liverpool Biennial. Our proposal, titled The Ambassadors, would have consisted of a set of flags of those nations with which HM Government did not maintain diplomatic relations. The ...
W5139
21.09.2012
Odor Memory - K. Deniz Pireci
WWW
U9528
01.01.1988
Billboard - Jimmie Durham
Unbuilt Roads
a "U.S, Highway" - size billboard structure built along some street or auto-route. It would be complete with lights, but built on a structure to look at, that is to say, without a 'message' Without text or images superimposed. (eventually reasons why ...
a "U.S, Highway" - size billboard structure built along some street or auto-route. It would be complete with lights, but built on a structure to look at, that is to say, without a 'message' Without text or images superimposed. (eventually reasons why ...
W4245
24.05.2011
Frau Fiber
WWW
My lifeʼs work is dedicated to instigating new ways for participants to consider their engagement in the world, their purchasing power, or non-purchasing power. Transforming spaces of relaxation into spaces of physical production. Encouraging Participant ...
My lifeʼs work is dedicated to instigating new ways for participants to consider their engagement in the world, their purchasing power, or non-purchasing power. Transforming spaces of relaxation into spaces of physical production. Encouraging Participant ...
W4866
09.08.2012
The Rat Gallery - Aasa Ersmark
WWW
Rat Gallery I would like to propose an art show specially designed for wild city rats. The Rat Gallery is installed under the floor of an appropriate space in a big city . For the opening party of the show , the rats get to enjoy con temporary art and th ...
Rat Gallery I would like to propose an art show specially designed for wild city rats. The Rat Gallery is installed under the floor of an appropriate space in a big city . For the opening party of the show , the rats get to enjoy con temporary art and th ...
W4065
23.05.2011
THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB) FROM THE BIG BANG - Rick Doble
WWW
A PROPOSAL BY RICK DOBLE FOR AN UNREALIZED ART PROJECT BASED ON PROCESSING THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB) FROM THE BIG BANG In 2003 I proposed an art project (see my submitted copy of my proposal to the Exploratorium in San Francisco ...
A PROPOSAL BY RICK DOBLE FOR AN UNREALIZED ART PROJECT BASED ON PROCESSING THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB) FROM THE BIG BANG In 2003 I proposed an art project (see my submitted copy of my proposal to the Exploratorium in San Francisco ...
W3864
19.05.2011
Nova Jiang
WWW
A rejected finalist proposal for a public sculpture designed by the public online. Each online participant determines the shape of a sculptural element, which can be assembled by visitors to the park. ...
A rejected finalist proposal for a public sculpture designed by the public online. Each online participant determines the shape of a sculptural element, which can be assembled by visitors to the park. ...
W3624
14.05.2011
Steve Rosenthal
WWW
Unrealized project from March 2008. The proposal was made to Acantia Health and Beauty Ltd, seeking sponsorship in the form of 6000 bars of Coal Tar Soap to realize the construction of a 'Yellow Brick Road' for my final degree show. Please see text (i ...
Unrealized project from March 2008. The proposal was made to Acantia Health and Beauty Ltd, seeking sponsorship in the form of 6000 bars of Coal Tar Soap to realize the construction of a 'Yellow Brick Road' for my final degree show. Please see text (i ...
W5411
20.10.2012
Jessica Miller
WWW
I have created a proposal outlining a beautification project beginning in the city of Atlanta. Participants in the agenda sign up to receive locations of seed bomb caches. They can then distribute the seed bombs and log the locations of the bombing.... ...
I have created a proposal outlining a beautification project beginning in the city of Atlanta. Participants in the agenda sign up to receive locations of seed bomb caches. They can then distribute the seed bombs and log the locations of the bombing.... ...
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 ...
W3882
19.05.2011
Wheatfields - Carlo Marcucci
WWW
Large imaginary sculptures made of pasta strands. These non-existent structures are based on the "Wheatfields" body of work. "Wheatfields" are existent wall-mounted sculptures made of spaghetti and various kinds on noodles applied to wood. "The Gate" ...
Large imaginary sculptures made of pasta strands. These non-existent structures are based on the "Wheatfields" body of work. "Wheatfields" are existent wall-mounted sculptures made of spaghetti and various kinds on noodles applied to wood. "The Gate" ...
W5123
18.09.2012
Transit/Stasis - Danielle Giudici Wallis
WWW
A proposal for the entrance of the San Francisco Public Library based on the Principle of Least Effort (George Kingsley Zipf, 1949) Transit/Stasis As I emerged from the BART station, I was taken with the sight of a commuter who opted to walk up the ...
A proposal for the entrance of the San Francisco Public Library based on the Principle of Least Effort (George Kingsley Zipf, 1949) Transit/Stasis As I emerged from the BART station, I was taken with the sight of a commuter who opted to walk up the ...
W3648
15.05.2011
Lima 2427 - Camila Bustamante
WWW
Imaginative launch campaign for the Lima Urban Train (Peru) The works for the urban train of Lima (Peru) began in the middle ’80’s and were never completed due to the economic crisis and the incompetence of some governors. ...
Imaginative launch campaign for the Lima Urban Train (Peru) The works for the urban train of Lima (Peru) began in the middle ’80’s and were never completed due to the economic crisis and the incompetence of some governors. ...