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.

Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

Broadway Musicals - Christian Marclay

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Chen H.V.O + G.T. - Bertrand Lavier

Cruzeiro Do Sul, (Southern Cross) (Crucero del Sur) 1969-70* - Cildo Meireles

Right-of-Privacy Release - Tony Oursler

WATERWORKS - Mona Hatoum

Douglas Gordon - 5 year drive-by; proposal for a public artwork.

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3481
11.05.2011
Experiments In Organza - Helen Maher
WWW
Press release. Helen maher. ‘Experiments In Organza’ Textile Sculptor, living & working in London. Current project, ‘Experiments in Organza’, investigates the interaction between Primary Elements- Solids, Liquids & Gases & Secondary Elem ...
Press release. Helen maher. ‘Experiments In Organza’ Textile Sculptor, living & working in London. Current project, ‘Experiments in Organza’, investigates the interaction between Primary Elements- Solids, Liquids & Gases & Secondary Elem ...
W3849
19.05.2011
The Trace of A Production Site - YU-HANG HUANG
WWW
is a performance based installation, which deals with memory, moving and production. The installation contains my hand-made copies of everyday objects from water-resistant polyethylene foam. ...
is a performance based installation, which deals with memory, moving and production. The installation contains my hand-made copies of everyday objects from water-resistant polyethylene foam. ...
W4581
25.05.2011
Oasis Project Proposal  - Carrie Paterson
WWW
Image 1 Oasis Project Proposal circa 2002-2004 Drawings show a device for water collection, condensation, and purification connected by ‘stem’ to an underground storage tank, accessed via a tap that operates with a pressure pump to retrieve wate ...
Image 1 Oasis Project Proposal circa 2002-2004 Drawings show a device for water collection, condensation, and purification connected by ‘stem’ to an underground storage tank, accessed via a tap that operates with a pressure pump to retrieve wate ...
W4734
26.05.2011
Dead but not gone - Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka
WWW
Dead but not gone …. Dead but not gone is a project about the dead things that once was live and living in this world. This was unrealized photography project that, recently I found as going back to my photography archive from 2005 to 2011, I have take ...
Dead but not gone …. Dead but not gone is a project about the dead things that once was live and living in this world. This was unrealized photography project that, recently I found as going back to my photography archive from 2005 to 2011, I have take ...
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 ...
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 ...
W5356
19.10.2012
german ramirez
WWW
At the moment I am working on a project which relates Nature and Religion. Are they complementary? Do they share common roots? Do they justify one another. Is one consequence of the other? I use photography to manipulate images confronting human beliefs. ...
At the moment I am working on a project which relates Nature and Religion. Are they complementary? Do they share common roots? Do they justify one another. Is one consequence of the other? I use photography to manipulate images confronting human beliefs. ...
W4873
09.08.2012
Forms of Responsibility - Jenny Brown
WWW
Forms of Responsibility • Recent Projects by Jenny Brown Jenny Brown Tied (Melting Ice Sea Creatures), 2006 Video Still Variable Dimensions In early 2005, an elegant gesture of product repatriation was conceived and produced by Jenny Brown as a way of b ...
Forms of Responsibility • Recent Projects by Jenny Brown Jenny Brown Tied (Melting Ice Sea Creatures), 2006 Video Still Variable Dimensions In early 2005, an elegant gesture of product repatriation was conceived and produced by Jenny Brown as a way of b ...
W5010
30.08.2012
Pavillion of Albania - Mimmo Catania
WWW
Mimmo Catania (UAP) -Project for the „1. Pavillion of Albania“ at the 48. Biennale di Venezia, Venice (1999). (Collage on color photocopy, 21x29,7 cm.) The unrealized project for the „1. Pavillion of Albania“ at the 48. Biennale di Venezi ...
Mimmo Catania (UAP) -Project for the „1. Pavillion of Albania“ at the 48. Biennale di Venezia, Venice (1999). (Collage on color photocopy, 21x29,7 cm.) The unrealized project for the „1. Pavillion of Albania“ at the 48. Biennale di Venezi ...
W4401
25.05.2011
Proposal for Museo de Arte, Sacramento, Mexico. - Ursula Nistrup
WWW
Proposal for Museo de Arte, Sacramento, Mexico. The project I would like to propose is informed by the unique conditions you have created for the Museum as an abstract entity. It is inspired by ’The Idea of the North’ by the pianist and composer Gl ...
Proposal for Museo de Arte, Sacramento, Mexico. The project I would like to propose is informed by the unique conditions you have created for the Museum as an abstract entity. It is inspired by ’The Idea of the North’ by the pianist and composer Gl ...
W7067
24.11.2013
Ardfert “Miracle Hill”  - Julie Forrester
WWW
THEMES The theme will be Ardfert “Miracle Hill”. Ideas about miracles will be explored playfully by posing questions: What exactly is a miracle? Do you know any miracles? Are miracles real? Do we need them? Who are the people who inhabit miracles? ...
THEMES The theme will be Ardfert “Miracle Hill”. Ideas about miracles will be explored playfully by posing questions: What exactly is a miracle? Do you know any miracles? Are miracles real? Do we need them? Who are the people who inhabit miracles? ...
W4840
08.08.2012
Tableau Vivant and the subversive Feminine - andreas guibert
WWW
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna PhD in Practice (Doctor of Philosophy in Practice) Personal number: 0003 Andres Guibert Abstract The proposed project analyses how individual gay identities contest cultural policies in repressive regimes reformulating ...
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna PhD in Practice (Doctor of Philosophy in Practice) Personal number: 0003 Andres Guibert Abstract The proposed project analyses how individual gay identities contest cultural policies in repressive regimes reformulating ...
W4166
24.05.2011
heaven and hell box - jonathan paul gillette
WWW
heaven and hell box the heaven and hell box is a three chamber room. the viewer enters the front space through a centered pvc curtain and then chooses to enter the right or left space via two side orientated pvc curtains. the left space is climate cont ...
heaven and hell box the heaven and hell box is a three chamber room. the viewer enters the front space through a centered pvc curtain and then chooses to enter the right or left space via two side orientated pvc curtains. the left space is climate cont ...
W10287
01.01.2007
Anthroepiphytic - Héctor Zamora
WWW
Dimensions: Variable Technique: scaffolding structure Exhibition: Frontera - Esbozo para la creación de una sociedad del futuro Place: Frontera Corozal - Chiapas - México Antroepiphytic consists of the building of a walkable tower around an ...
Dimensions: Variable Technique: scaffolding structure Exhibition: Frontera - Esbozo para la creación de una sociedad del futuro Place: Frontera Corozal - Chiapas - México Antroepiphytic consists of the building of a walkable tower around an ...
W3782
18.05.2011
De Almeida e Silva
WWW
wanna build a Tv DVd player sustain by battery, play a video loop on it, and covered it in a box of concrete, creating an actual endless loop. like the Myth of Sisyphus. ...
wanna build a Tv DVd player sustain by battery, play a video loop on it, and covered it in a box of concrete, creating an actual endless loop. like the Myth of Sisyphus. ...
W3899
20.05.2011
SIN TITULO - Daniela Huerta
WWW
SIN TITULO Nails, wall, dust and red thread. Dimensions variable 2010 This is a project that perhaps was never intended to be realized. It was rather an action and a documentation of it. The beginning and the end is the wall, as it works as a state ...
SIN TITULO Nails, wall, dust and red thread. Dimensions variable 2010 This is a project that perhaps was never intended to be realized. It was rather an action and a documentation of it. The beginning and the end is the wall, as it works as a state ...
W4176
24.05.2011
MEDIA TORTURE CHAMBER - Mitya Nesterov
WWW
MEDIA TORTURE CHAMBER is room one cannot leave without permission. Inside that room you have a baroque-styled bed one cannot sleep on because it is covered with sharp nails, four powerful speakers playing classical music all the time, and plasma TV-screen ...
MEDIA TORTURE CHAMBER is room one cannot leave without permission. Inside that room you have a baroque-styled bed one cannot sleep on because it is covered with sharp nails, four powerful speakers playing classical music all the time, and plasma TV-screen ...
W3983
21.05.2011
The Panajachel Biennial’s Story: A Community Still to Come - Panajachel Biennial
WWW
The Panajachel Biennial was an initiative by a group of young independent curators (Karl Escher, Abbas Ibn Salah al Din, Guillermo Santamarina, Joao Castro da Silva y Takouhi Abesalom) who convened in Panajachel in 2009. The result of this meeting was a p ...
The Panajachel Biennial was an initiative by a group of young independent curators (Karl Escher, Abbas Ibn Salah al Din, Guillermo Santamarina, Joao Castro da Silva y Takouhi Abesalom) who convened in Panajachel in 2009. The result of this meeting was a p ...
W4522
25.05.2011
Under Construction/Building a Website  - Berkay Tuncay
WWW
Under Construction/Building a Website                                                   2011/ Installation&Website    “Under Construction/Building a Website” is based on the “under ...
Under Construction/Building a Website                                                   2011/ Installation&Website    “Under Construction/Building a Website” is based on the “under ...
W4111
23.05.2011
“The Observed Observer" - Alexandre Dang
WWW
“The Observed Observer" Introduction Artist Alexandre Dang works on raising awareness on contemporary and extemporal issues. The installation of “The Observed Observer” offers the visitor to experience something totally unusual. This work enab ...
“The Observed Observer" Introduction Artist Alexandre Dang works on raising awareness on contemporary and extemporal issues. The installation of “The Observed Observer” offers the visitor to experience something totally unusual. This work enab ...
W3817
19.05.2011
Igor Eugen Prokop
WWW
„Igor Eugen Prokop creates sumptuously colored images created with an unusual pairing of mixed media and acrylic on glass or canvas. These are incredibly energetic works, grasping our awareness and plunging us into a spectacular, glittering cosmos. ...
„Igor Eugen Prokop creates sumptuously colored images created with an unusual pairing of mixed media and acrylic on glass or canvas. These are incredibly energetic works, grasping our awareness and plunging us into a spectacular, glittering cosmos. ...
W4290
24.05.2011
Strategia Della Tensione - Faber Lorne
WWW
Strategia Della Tensione By Faber Lorne “Strategia Della Tensione” is plans to be made with plastic fence used on construction site. Once placed in a specific environment, the plastic fence of safety activates the temporary subtraction of ...
Strategia Della Tensione By Faber Lorne “Strategia Della Tensione” is plans to be made with plastic fence used on construction site. Once placed in a specific environment, the plastic fence of safety activates the temporary subtraction of ...
W3965
21.05.2011
OKAMOTO Mitsuhiro
WWW
In this case, I mean unaccomplished exhibition period as 'unrealized project'. After the show started, Louis Vuitton has asked KOBE FASHION MUSEUM to stop showing my artwork 'Batta Mon', to stop selling the show catalog and also to remove the show poster ...
In this case, I mean unaccomplished exhibition period as 'unrealized project'. After the show started, Louis Vuitton has asked KOBE FASHION MUSEUM to stop showing my artwork 'Batta Mon', to stop selling the show catalog and also to remove the show poster ...
W4181
24.05.2011
Gallery Tour - Claudia Ulisses
WWW
Project: Gallery Tour Year: 2001 Artist: Claudia Ulisses Gallery Tour is a journey into the empty interior of some art galleries or museums (art spaces), where the visitor is literally transported by a chair that moves through the space. The visit ...
Project: Gallery Tour Year: 2001 Artist: Claudia Ulisses Gallery Tour is a journey into the empty interior of some art galleries or museums (art spaces), where the visitor is literally transported by a chair that moves through the space. The visit ...
W5471
21.10.2012
La Gioconda Project - Gabor Ösz
WWW
Introduction A few years ago, when I first visited the Louvre, I was surprised to see that the signposts giving directions for the painting La Gioconda already started at the gates. As I was to learn later, there exists a form of cultural pilgrimage t ...
Introduction A few years ago, when I first visited the Louvre, I was surprised to see that the signposts giving directions for the painting La Gioconda already started at the gates. As I was to learn later, there exists a form of cultural pilgrimage t ...
W4048
22.05.2011
NESTED VOIDS: LA GROTTE DU MAS D’AZIL - Bradley Pitts
WWW
Unrealized Proposal for NESTED VOIDS: LA GROTTE DU MAS D’AZIL
 Bradley Pitts, 2010 The cave of Le Mas-d'Azil (la grotte du Mas d'Azil), FR, was one of the first prehistoric caves to yield evidence of human habitation. Its main feature is a 500-met ...
Unrealized Proposal for NESTED VOIDS: LA GROTTE DU MAS D’AZIL
 Bradley Pitts, 2010 The cave of Le Mas-d'Azil (la grotte du Mas d'Azil), FR, was one of the first prehistoric caves to yield evidence of human habitation. Its main feature is a 500-met ...