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.

Post Photographic apparatus - Steven Pippin

Temple of the western buddha (1971 Kathmedu) - Herman de Vries

The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

Projekt für die Landschaft des Mont-de-Sene (Burgund) im Rahmen eines öffentlichen Auftrags des französischen Kultusministeriums - Markus Raetz

Isometric Projection - Sol Lewitt

Placid Earth: A Project for the Meeting of Millennia - Cai Guo Quiang

Art and Ourselves: A Proposal for the city of Nordhorn - Allen Rupperssberg

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

Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick