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.

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

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

Right-of-Privacy Release - Tony Oursler

Unrealized project for Tate Gallery + ICA, 1969 - Gilbert and George

Billboard - Jimmie Durham

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

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

Project for the Initiative Mahnmal Homosexuellenverfolgung, Frankfurt  - Jeff Wall

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4137
23.05.2011
Ann McCoy
WWW
THE PFAUENINSEL PROJECT The Transformation of the King and the Alchemist of Pfaueninsel The alchemists were not simply chemists; they developed a symbolic language to describe psychological transformation in a time before psychoanalysis. ...
THE PFAUENINSEL PROJECT The Transformation of the King and the Alchemist of Pfaueninsel The alchemists were not simply chemists; they developed a symbolic language to describe psychological transformation in a time before psychoanalysis. ...
W4761
27.05.2011
24-Hour Kaprow - Richard Smolinski
WWW
"24-Hour Kaprow" was envisioned as a performance video where Kaprow’s collected works would be re-presented through a 24 hour long video. RICHard SMOLinski’s unrealized project, 24-Hour Kaprow 24-Hour Kaprow was envisioned as a performance vide ...
"24-Hour Kaprow" was envisioned as a performance video where Kaprow’s collected works would be re-presented through a 24 hour long video. RICHard SMOLinski’s unrealized project, 24-Hour Kaprow 24-Hour Kaprow was envisioned as a performance vide ...
U9843
01.01.1996
Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco
Unbuilt Roads
House with half sphere swimming pool in the center (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) No Time Previous Publications (?) No Existing Documents (photos, drawings, models): Drawing Other remarks Designed after a v ...
House with half sphere swimming pool in the center (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) No Time Previous Publications (?) No Existing Documents (photos, drawings, models): Drawing Other remarks Designed after a v ...
W4878
09.08.2012
Breathless - Peter Grzybowski
WWW
Breathless Performance art by AWACS Group from 1980 - 1987 Project objective: - introduction of work by AWACS Group - AWACS and its place in history of Polish performance art - emphasizing of the political aspect of the Group's activity during the Ma ...
Breathless Performance art by AWACS Group from 1980 - 1987 Project objective: - introduction of work by AWACS Group - AWACS and its place in history of Polish performance art - emphasizing of the political aspect of the Group's activity during the Ma ...
W4727
26.05.2011
Household aluminium foil sculptures - Michel NORTH
WWW
Household aluminium foil sculptures – development of a “fa presto” technique in sculpture Those are two examples of statues (image 1: 1978; image 2: 1985), unrealised in that sense that the technique used and developed by me about 50 years ago ...
Household aluminium foil sculptures – development of a “fa presto” technique in sculpture Those are two examples of statues (image 1: 1978; image 2: 1985), unrealised in that sense that the technique used and developed by me about 50 years ago ...
W4800
20.01.2012
Turf - IDADA Art Pavilion - Jeremy Tubbs
WWW
Turf - IDADA Art Pavilion Super Bowl weekend will coincide with the IDADA First Friday Art Tour on Friday February 3rd. The Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association (IDADA) are hosting a unique, visual arts event and pavilion in downtown Ind ...
Turf - IDADA Art Pavilion Super Bowl weekend will coincide with the IDADA First Friday Art Tour on Friday February 3rd. The Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association (IDADA) are hosting a unique, visual arts event and pavilion in downtown Ind ...
W5403
20.10.2012
L’ARTISTA HA L’ORO IN BOCCA - Isabella Pers
WWW
Isabella Pers L’ARTISTA HA L’ORO IN BOCCA unrealized project For the title I’m referring to the famous phrase 'All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy' that appeares in the film The Shining (Kubrick, 1980). The book that Jack was writing co ...
Isabella Pers L’ARTISTA HA L’ORO IN BOCCA unrealized project For the title I’m referring to the famous phrase 'All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy' that appeares in the film The Shining (Kubrick, 1980). The book that Jack was writing co ...
W4693
26.05.2011
a flower every day - Nina Meledandri
WWW
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
W4614
25.05.2011
Art Forum - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Review of Unrealized projects by Cornford & Cross Rachel Withers Art Forum Jan 2003 ...
Review of Unrealized projects by Cornford & Cross Rachel Withers Art Forum Jan 2003 ...
W3514
11.05.2011
“Future Show”  - Alexandra Hopf
WWW
“Future Show” is an ongoing investigation into objects of art that have vanished from the field of vision.  These objects were once housed within the original Future Show in the New York's Museum of Non-Objective Art from November to December of 1 ...
“Future Show” is an ongoing investigation into objects of art that have vanished from the field of vision.  These objects were once housed within the original Future Show in the New York's Museum of Non-Objective Art from November to December of 1 ...
W5269
13.10.2012
The Politics of the Divine–Thangka numérique - Nu'a Bön
WWW
"The Politics of the Divine–Thangka numérique". Bikiki Atoll 1946 Thangka numérique (2009); Aotearoa 2009 Thangka numérique (2009). Visual ruminations on the agency and agendas of critical thinking in art, buddhist teachings, and digital technology ...
"The Politics of the Divine–Thangka numérique". Bikiki Atoll 1946 Thangka numérique (2009); Aotearoa 2009 Thangka numérique (2009). Visual ruminations on the agency and agendas of critical thinking in art, buddhist teachings, and digital technology ...
W10717
11.09.2014
Parallelle Projekte in der Stadt Münster, 1997 - Nicolaisen Terje
WWW
At my final year in the Academy I went to Münster to show my projects with Yellow Light. Should I wait till I am 60 to be invited or just go to the party uninvited? Kasper König made it clear to me in his office at Landesmuseum that this was a private p ...
At my final year in the Academy I went to Münster to show my projects with Yellow Light. Should I wait till I am 60 to be invited or just go to the party uninvited? Kasper König made it clear to me in his office at Landesmuseum that this was a private p ...
W4775
31.05.2011
El fracaso de Xochiquetzal - ana gallardo
WWW
El fracaso de Xochiquetzal Ensayo reflexionar sobre la vejez y su condición ante la cercanía de la muerte en el mundo contemporáneo. En nuestra cultura hay una imagen desfavorable del envejecimiento, esta etapa despierta sentimientos encontrados, ...
El fracaso de Xochiquetzal Ensayo reflexionar sobre la vejez y su condición ante la cercanía de la muerte en el mundo contemporáneo. En nuestra cultura hay una imagen desfavorable del envejecimiento, esta etapa despierta sentimientos encontrados, ...
W3714
17.05.2011
To other places, Coventry 1998 (project) - Mark Pimlott
WWW
The motorway ring road that surrounds Coventry city centre is read currently as a city wall. The city of Coventry is within it, and its conceptual wilderness is without. The space of the motorway has become a non- place, or rather a place whose legitimacy ...
The motorway ring road that surrounds Coventry city centre is read currently as a city wall. The city of Coventry is within it, and its conceptual wilderness is without. The space of the motorway has become a non- place, or rather a place whose legitimacy ...
W4664
25.05.2011
Field Experiment Osnabrück - MomenTech
WWW
Field Experiment Osnabrück an unrealized project by MomenTech http://momentech.blogspot.com Field Experiment Osnabrück is a proposed large-scale work in the public sphere based on MomenTech’s Field Experiment installation, an interactive, site-spec ...
Field Experiment Osnabrück an unrealized project by MomenTech http://momentech.blogspot.com Field Experiment Osnabrück is a proposed large-scale work in the public sphere based on MomenTech’s Field Experiment installation, an interactive, site-spec ...
W4219
24.05.2011
I dream of you - Costa Vece
WWW
I would like to install a neon writing work with the sentence; I dream of you on the roof of the building, 4 avenue Henri Dunant, Plaine de Plainpalais in Geneva. The text of “ I dream of you “ should present the following ideas, imaginations an ...
I would like to install a neon writing work with the sentence; I dream of you on the roof of the building, 4 avenue Henri Dunant, Plaine de Plainpalais in Geneva. The text of “ I dream of you “ should present the following ideas, imaginations an ...
W4202
24.05.2011
The Eisenstein Project - janet hodgson
WWW
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
W4239
24.05.2011
OXYGEN - Peter Boyadjieff
WWW
Today our metropolitan networks require more and more physical space for their residual infrastructure and paradoxically seem to leave less and less legroom for urban appropriation by their occupants. Rather than being subjugated to it, the supremacy of t ...
Today our metropolitan networks require more and more physical space for their residual infrastructure and paradoxically seem to leave less and less legroom for urban appropriation by their occupants. Rather than being subjugated to it, the supremacy of t ...
W3540
11.05.2011
New Bridge for Dilligence  - Tomas Pecha
WWW
new bridge for dilligence beer bridge for oversitting. sitting on more chairs, oversitting from place to placeinstead of direct movement and compulsory czech beer.some ideas are thirsty.some need to be oversitted. tommorrow reality. intention of new bri ...
new bridge for dilligence beer bridge for oversitting. sitting on more chairs, oversitting from place to placeinstead of direct movement and compulsory czech beer.some ideas are thirsty.some need to be oversitted. tommorrow reality. intention of new bri ...
W4021
22.05.2011
MAKE YOUR MOVE - Marjan Verhaeghe
WWW
Marjan Verhaeghe For: Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP) In my proposal for a residence in Dublin, 2008, I formulated an interactive idea for a cooperation with other artists. I was selected to come over, but in that period I couldn’t go (be ...
Marjan Verhaeghe For: Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP) In my proposal for a residence in Dublin, 2008, I formulated an interactive idea for a cooperation with other artists. I was selected to come over, but in that period I couldn’t go (be ...
W4491
25.05.2011
An unrealized high relief sculpture project from Istanbul. - Dilara Akay
WWW
An unrealized high relief sculpture project from Istanbul. In October 2010 I was asked to propose a work for a building of a leading Turkish retail operation brand's headquarters in Istanbul. I made the presentation at the beginning of February 2011. And ...
An unrealized high relief sculpture project from Istanbul. In October 2010 I was asked to propose a work for a building of a leading Turkish retail operation brand's headquarters in Istanbul. I made the presentation at the beginning of February 2011. And ...
W4805
07.08.2012
MATTHEW ROSE
WWW
Where Does It Itch? is a project involving 100 of my framed collage works aligned in grid or horizon on a wall. Originally slated for Ogilvy Mather Direct as a proposal, it was abandoned. This PDF is that original proposal. Matthew Rose is an Americ ...
Where Does It Itch? is a project involving 100 of my framed collage works aligned in grid or horizon on a wall. Originally slated for Ogilvy Mather Direct as a proposal, it was abandoned. This PDF is that original proposal. Matthew Rose is an Americ ...
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 ...
W3841
19.05.2011
God's ear wax - Janice Perry
WWW
"God's ear wax." Large sculpture for public space. Multiple media. Conceived 2004/2011. Janice Perry. B. 1950. USA. The sculpture is comprised of an extremely large ball of wax (with a very high melting point), 100-500 feet in diameter, dark golden br ...
"God's ear wax." Large sculpture for public space. Multiple media. Conceived 2004/2011. Janice Perry. B. 1950. USA. The sculpture is comprised of an extremely large ball of wax (with a very high melting point), 100-500 feet in diameter, dark golden br ...
W4445
25.05.2011
THE MODERN VERSION OF NOAH’S ARK - Birgitte Katborg Laursen
WWW
THE MODERN VERSION OF NOAH’S ARK In 2003-2005, ÖO’K Aquatic Structures AB (www.ook.se) designed a technologically advanced, sustainable houseboat prototype. The superstructure of the houseboat was designed in collaboration with the engineering f ...
THE MODERN VERSION OF NOAH’S ARK In 2003-2005, ÖO’K Aquatic Structures AB (www.ook.se) designed a technologically advanced, sustainable houseboat prototype. The superstructure of the houseboat was designed in collaboration with the engineering f ...
W3990
21.05.2011
Project for MAXXI Contemporary Art Museum in Roma (arh. Saha Hadid) - sculptor PhD Aili Vahtrapuu, arh. Katrin Koov, disainer Janika Vaesberg
WWW
Project for MAXXI Contemporary Art Museum in Roma (arh. Saha Hadid) Interactive sound and light installation ...
Project for MAXXI Contemporary Art Museum in Roma (arh. Saha Hadid) Interactive sound and light installation ...