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.

The World Record - General Idea

Unbetitelt, Gänse-Projekt + Noch unbetitelt , " Durch den Mund sehen " + Kartoffeln  - Carsten Holler

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Mahe Gilles

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

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

The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois

Tulips for Amsterdam - Isa Genzken

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

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4282
24.05.2011
USS PALIN - Kevin Sampson
WWW
Book of Ezekiel (12: 1-2) " ... Oh mortals, thou dwellest among the rebellious breed. They have eyes to see but see not; they have ears to hear, but hear not..." I have been constructing vessels for several years. After thinking about the current s ...
Book of Ezekiel (12: 1-2) " ... Oh mortals, thou dwellest among the rebellious breed. They have eyes to see but see not; they have ears to hear, but hear not..." I have been constructing vessels for several years. After thinking about the current s ...
W4469
25.05.2011
Straight-Line Residency Project (SLRP):  - Margaret Roberts
WWW
Straight-Line Residency Project (SLRP): Executive summary A. The SLRP aims to • support interdimensional travel from virtual to physical space, • encourage the re-valuation of physical space by showing it as a desirable destination for interdimens ...
Straight-Line Residency Project (SLRP): Executive summary A. The SLRP aims to • support interdimensional travel from virtual to physical space, • encourage the re-valuation of physical space by showing it as a desirable destination for interdimens ...
W4286
24.05.2011
Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice  - Lonnie Holley
WWW
Lonnie Holley From Earth the Mother to the Black Mother and Back Again Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice Presented by the American Folk Art Museum at Fondaco dei Tedeschi, June 2011 Artist State ...
Lonnie Holley From Earth the Mother to the Black Mother and Back Again Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice Presented by the American Folk Art Museum at Fondaco dei Tedeschi, June 2011 Artist State ...
W4858
08.08.2012
Interacting Products - Dan Riley
WWW
Interacting Products Interacting Products is an art installation consisting of two products that interact with eachother and an optional third party interacting with one of the products. The first product is a 909 drum machine which features a clap sou ...
Interacting Products Interacting Products is an art installation consisting of two products that interact with eachother and an optional third party interacting with one of the products. The first product is a 909 drum machine which features a clap sou ...
W4739
26.05.2011
Proposed Future - Ann Marie Webb
WWW
Proposed Future Architecture is the most visible sign of a society's faith and trust in the future. The ability to move forward and construct a future is greatly effected by how our views are framed. This work explores the built landsc ...
Proposed Future Architecture is the most visible sign of a society's faith and trust in the future. The ability to move forward and construct a future is greatly effected by how our views are framed. This work explores the built landsc ...
W5082
07.09.2012
The sign that would attract people to an empty area.  - Annika Eriksson
WWW
The sign that would attract people to an empty area. For the show When Attitudes Become Form Become Attitudes at Wattis Institute in San Francisco this year I wanted to place an illuminated sign in the vast empty lot just behind the institution, a l ...
The sign that would attract people to an empty area. For the show When Attitudes Become Form Become Attitudes at Wattis Institute in San Francisco this year I wanted to place an illuminated sign in the vast empty lot just behind the institution, a l ...
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 ...
W4283
24.05.2011
STEREO-MONOCANAL LIVE SET  - Marc Serra Roca
WWW
STEREO-MONOCANAL LIVE SET Stereo-Monocal live set deconstructs a digital audio mixer in an analogical, live and experiential medium. Both audio channels are represented by two streets running along a canal in Amsterdam, now morphed into audio gangway ...
STEREO-MONOCANAL LIVE SET Stereo-Monocal live set deconstructs a digital audio mixer in an analogical, live and experiential medium. Both audio channels are represented by two streets running along a canal in Amsterdam, now morphed into audio gangway ...
W4132
23.05.2011
A Labyrinth of Illusions - Jerzy Olek
WWW
A Labyrinth of Illusions The exhibition would present my works from the series “The Dimensionslessness of Illusion”. Drawings, photographs, collages, computer graphics and stereomontages–all reflecting the variety of techniques used in the const ...
A Labyrinth of Illusions The exhibition would present my works from the series “The Dimensionslessness of Illusion”. Drawings, photographs, collages, computer graphics and stereomontages–all reflecting the variety of techniques used in the const ...
W4536
25.05.2011
CHARM OF SOUND - Petri Kuljuntausta
WWW
PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA: CHARM OF SOUND (1997) Petri Kuljuntausta's Charm of Sound (1997) is a text-based environmental composition in three parts, which is composed for outer space environment. In 1997 Cassini-Huygens spacecraft (Titan-IVB/Centaur) was laun ...
PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA: CHARM OF SOUND (1997) Petri Kuljuntausta's Charm of Sound (1997) is a text-based environmental composition in three parts, which is composed for outer space environment. In 1997 Cassini-Huygens spacecraft (Titan-IVB/Centaur) was laun ...
U9263
01.01.1974
CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten
Unbuilt Roads
Einige Überlegungen zur Emblematik von Ansichtskarten. Abgebildete Sehenswürdigkeiten gelangen auf Ansichtskarten durch die häufig gewählte Zentralperspektive in die Nähe ausgestellter Backwaren. Die siegelhaft stilisierte Heraldik, eines immer wiede ...
Einige Überlegungen zur Emblematik von Ansichtskarten. Abgebildete Sehenswürdigkeiten gelangen auf Ansichtskarten durch die häufig gewählte Zentralperspektive in die Nähe ausgestellter Backwaren. Die siegelhaft stilisierte Heraldik, eines immer wiede ...
W4668
25.05.2011
The Hope Tree of New Fribourg - MomenTech
WWW
"The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") Commemorates the Relationship Between the Sister Cities of Fribourg, Switzerland, sister city, Nova Friburgo, Brazil "Hope is the last to die." -- Portuguese proverb NEW YORK, ...
"The Hope Tree of New Fribourg" ("Árvore Esperança de Nova Friburgo") Commemorates the Relationship Between the Sister Cities of Fribourg, Switzerland, sister city, Nova Friburgo, Brazil "Hope is the last to die." -- Portuguese proverb NEW YORK, ...
W4636
25.05.2011
C.Q - Ioanna Pantazopoulou
WWW
C.Q., 2010 honey jars, cosmetic containers, lipsticks, glue, mirror C.Q. is a maquette study for a fantastical monument, a ‘Disney Palace on acid’, a tribute to Beauty. It is an arrangement of cosmetics that are used as pigments to add tones to ...
C.Q., 2010 honey jars, cosmetic containers, lipsticks, glue, mirror C.Q. is a maquette study for a fantastical monument, a ‘Disney Palace on acid’, a tribute to Beauty. It is an arrangement of cosmetics that are used as pigments to add tones to ...
W3482
11.05.2011
„Die schönste Geschichte der Welt“ („The most beautiful story ever“) - Sandra Meisel
WWW
Unrealized Project by Sandra Meisel, 2010 „Die schönste Geschichte der Welt“ („The most beautiful story ever“) a site specific installation consisting of two large-scale installations „Himalaya“ and „Karussell“, as well as a series o ...
Unrealized Project by Sandra Meisel, 2010 „Die schönste Geschichte der Welt“ („The most beautiful story ever“) a site specific installation consisting of two large-scale installations „Himalaya“ and „Karussell“, as well as a series o ...
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 ...
W4874
09.08.2012
Kseniya
WWW
W4008
22.05.2011
YOU WILL BE FAMOUS - Alessandro Rolandi
WWW
Interactive-Installation 1) At the height of at least 5th or 6th floor of a public art space (museum or foundation) it will be installed a door opening on the void. The door must be red and in wood, liek the door leading to a room in a house. Actuall ...
Interactive-Installation 1) At the height of at least 5th or 6th floor of a public art space (museum or foundation) it will be installed a door opening on the void. The door must be red and in wood, liek the door leading to a room in a house. Actuall ...
W4781
03.06.2011
City of Today: Development for Feminine Urbanism  - Coralina Meyer
WWW
City of Today: Development for Feminine Urbanism A proposal for a fresh urban perspective, the City of Today is a product of the Old Girls Club. It is a series of presentations/drawings/performances/historic fictions where clients are asked to parti ...
City of Today: Development for Feminine Urbanism A proposal for a fresh urban perspective, the City of Today is a product of the Old Girls Club. It is a series of presentations/drawings/performances/historic fictions where clients are asked to parti ...
W3499
11.05.2011
Wind Chamber - Duarte da Encarnação
WWW
wind chamber This project consists of designing an “architectural sculpture” of an active capsule intended for temporary public interventions, pragmatic and strictly related to the development of the action and participation in the public sphere. T ...
wind chamber This project consists of designing an “architectural sculpture” of an active capsule intended for temporary public interventions, pragmatic and strictly related to the development of the action and participation in the public sphere. T ...
W3565
12.05.2011
Liquid Door (smoking underwater), 2010 - Isola and Norzi
WWW
Jacques Cousteau’s lifelong dream of living beneath the sea set artists Hilario Isola and Matteo Norzi to thinking about artworks as relics of the future. [this text was first commissioned to Isola and Norzi and published by ABITARE, (issue 501, A ...
Jacques Cousteau’s lifelong dream of living beneath the sea set artists Hilario Isola and Matteo Norzi to thinking about artworks as relics of the future. [this text was first commissioned to Isola and Norzi and published by ABITARE, (issue 501, A ...
W5184
30.09.2012
Relative Music - Augustin Maurs
WWW
RELATIVE MUSIC An unrealized economy, by Augustin Maurs À propos unrealized projects, it could be amusing to consider that, in the perspective of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, almost the totality of the music written in the western cultures f ...
RELATIVE MUSIC An unrealized economy, by Augustin Maurs À propos unrealized projects, it could be amusing to consider that, in the perspective of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, almost the totality of the music written in the western cultures f ...
W4604
25.05.2011
Ideas as falling light energy for a day - Karen Roulstone
WWW
Ideas as falling light energy for a day These sample works are from the start of a project which aims were to attempt to map thought processes connected to ideas which can never be fully resolved. The plan was to map ideas diagrammatically as falling l ...
Ideas as falling light energy for a day These sample works are from the start of a project which aims were to attempt to map thought processes connected to ideas which can never be fully resolved. The plan was to map ideas diagrammatically as falling l ...
W4253
24.05.2011
Minute of Power  - Arcady Kotler
WWW
Arcady Kotler Minute of Power The project Minute of Power is an interactive installation inviting viewers to stand on top of a watchtower to observe their surroundings through the scope a rifle. In this work I investigate how the experience of hand ...
Arcady Kotler Minute of Power The project Minute of Power is an interactive installation inviting viewers to stand on top of a watchtower to observe their surroundings through the scope a rifle. In this work I investigate how the experience of hand ...
W5169
26.09.2012
The winnipeg free museum  - Kendra Place
WWW
The winnipeg free museum (2009–2010) was an impossible, dividual artists' project. If Museums are being built as walled inspiration, promising experience and claiming to face the (carceral/) future, would the non-built or dematerialized, situated within ...
The winnipeg free museum (2009–2010) was an impossible, dividual artists' project. If Museums are being built as walled inspiration, promising experience and claiming to face the (carceral/) future, would the non-built or dematerialized, situated within ...
W3816
19.05.2011
Pittsburgh Passion Project, (Mistaken ID) - Ayanah Moor
WWW
The Pittsburgh Passion Project (2008-2009) probed the relationship between gender identity and sports practices through contemporary performance. In the American imagination, the contours of helmet, football pads, and protective gear have historically ...
The Pittsburgh Passion Project (2008-2009) probed the relationship between gender identity and sports practices through contemporary performance. In the American imagination, the contours of helmet, football pads, and protective gear have historically ...
W5377
19.10.2012
Maya Zack
WWW
Brief description – the act of drawing as/and the act of eating Hunger is an unrealized video work that conceptually is base on the theme of the hunger for realization and materialization. It has been developing (and still is) over the past few y ...
Brief description – the act of drawing as/and the act of eating Hunger is an unrealized video work that conceptually is base on the theme of the hunger for realization and materialization. It has been developing (and still is) over the past few y ...