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.

Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry

Chen H.V.O + G.T. - Bertrand Lavier

Memorial - Ilya Kabakov

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

The insurer - Fabrice Hybert

Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero

Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

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

The lmprobable Flow - Larry Bell

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3779
18.05.2011
Docks - Dina Weiss
WWW
By highlighting these remnants of the past, “Docks’ aims to animate history. The significance and impact of the past commerce in the water ways of the city and highlighting the beauty of the discarded and unused residues. ...
By highlighting these remnants of the past, “Docks’ aims to animate history. The significance and impact of the past commerce in the water ways of the city and highlighting the beauty of the discarded and unused residues. ...
W4996
30.08.2012
Chinese American Flag - Maarten Daudeij
WWW
(Working) Title: Chinese American Flag Artist: Maarten Daudeij (The Netherlands, Australia) Year of origination of idea: 2011 Concept: To wave a large size flag of which the design is a collage of the Chinese and the American Flag on top of the Museum ...
(Working) Title: Chinese American Flag Artist: Maarten Daudeij (The Netherlands, Australia) Year of origination of idea: 2011 Concept: To wave a large size flag of which the design is a collage of the Chinese and the American Flag on top of the Museum ...
W5394
20.10.2012
THE SOUND BARRIER A DUTCH NATIONAL, MONUMENTAL & EPHEMERAL CITY ARTWORK - Harold Schellinx
WWW
THE SOUND BARRIER A DUTCH NATIONAL, MONUMENTAL & EPHEMERAL CITY ARTWORK BY GEERT-JAN HOBIJN, HAROLD SCHELLINX AND KEVIN SCHUIT FOR THE 55TH VENICE BIENNALE (JUNENOVEMBER 2013) About a hundred years ago the Italian Futurists cried out for a total break ...
THE SOUND BARRIER A DUTCH NATIONAL, MONUMENTAL & EPHEMERAL CITY ARTWORK BY GEERT-JAN HOBIJN, HAROLD SCHELLINX AND KEVIN SCHUIT FOR THE 55TH VENICE BIENNALE (JUNENOVEMBER 2013) About a hundred years ago the Italian Futurists cried out for a total break ...
W5316
18.10.2012
Contingency Zone - Thiago Parizi
WWW
The project entitled “Contingency Zone” consist of 12 flagpoles, measuring 600cm tall by 6.5cm of diameter, and twelve flags, measuring 220 cm by 100cm, stamped with the repeating pattern [in the colors black and yellow] of the “caution” tapes ...
The project entitled “Contingency Zone” consist of 12 flagpoles, measuring 600cm tall by 6.5cm of diameter, and twelve flags, measuring 220 cm by 100cm, stamped with the repeating pattern [in the colors black and yellow] of the “caution” tapes ...
W4385
25.05.2011
un... - Bettina Bruder
WWW
un... by Bettina Bruder un... is an unrealized project from a series of experiments on the topic of ‘nothing’. un... got never realized until the call for submission of unrealized projects gave space to it. un... and ‘nothing’ are part of my u ...
un... by Bettina Bruder un... is an unrealized project from a series of experiments on the topic of ‘nothing’. un... got never realized until the call for submission of unrealized projects gave space to it. un... and ‘nothing’ are part of my u ...
W5124
18.09.2012
Leaching The Grease Out Of A Cheese Pyramid - Michael Arata
WWW
"Leaching The Grease Out Of A Cheese Pyramid" 1991-2012 The project (1991) consisted of ten pounds of white cheddar cheese carved into the shape of a stepped pyramid. The pyramid was placed on a 30 inch stack of newspapers bound together with braide ...
"Leaching The Grease Out Of A Cheese Pyramid" 1991-2012 The project (1991) consisted of ten pounds of white cheddar cheese carved into the shape of a stepped pyramid. The pyramid was placed on a 30 inch stack of newspapers bound together with braide ...
W4318
24.05.2011
Taking the Call Center - Yumi Janairo Roth and Nadine Wasserman
WWW
Outsourcing is common in a global economy. It is often maligned for taking jobs away from American workers and is also a source of pop culture humor. For the people working in these jobs, however, it can mean the difference between staying home or leavin ...
Outsourcing is common in a global economy. It is often maligned for taking jobs away from American workers and is also a source of pop culture humor. For the people working in these jobs, however, it can mean the difference between staying home or leavin ...
W5007
30.08.2012
Berlin Childhood - Julia Brodauf
WWW
The project "Berlin Childhood" was proposed as an exhibition idea to Vattenfall for the Turbinenhalle at the Heizkraftwerk Moabit in combination with an edition. The edition will be realised, the exhibition project not... Und die Mädels mit ihren Rol ...
The project "Berlin Childhood" was proposed as an exhibition idea to Vattenfall for the Turbinenhalle at the Heizkraftwerk Moabit in combination with an edition. The edition will be realised, the exhibition project not... Und die Mädels mit ihren Rol ...
W4609
25.05.2011
Found Objects for Assemblages - Tom Fish Hoyum
WWW
Found Objects for Assemblages --- I create art from existing objects & assemble them. Pictures follow for the following: Book Club: 10 Chicago Tribunes from 1974 Nixon Resigns [in plastic bag.] Popeye & Evangeline Together Again. [Two dolls in willow d ...
Found Objects for Assemblages --- I create art from existing objects & assemble them. Pictures follow for the following: Book Club: 10 Chicago Tribunes from 1974 Nixon Resigns [in plastic bag.] Popeye & Evangeline Together Again. [Two dolls in willow d ...
W4194
24.05.2011
Fleury Jean Damien
WWW
Rotation terrestre avec différentiel / projet d'harmonisation par réglage des écoulements temporels ...
Rotation terrestre avec différentiel / projet d'harmonisation par réglage des écoulements temporels ...
W3569
12.05.2011
National Address, Art Education for the public 1985  - Julianna Balogh
WWW
Concept Educating the public about the arts, all arts! With the help of the most powerful medium, mainstream television. Medium Projection of images from the history of art, starting with Nike of Samothrace. Location Highly visible location, pref ...
Concept Educating the public about the arts, all arts! With the help of the most powerful medium, mainstream television. Medium Projection of images from the history of art, starting with Nike of Samothrace. Location Highly visible location, pref ...
W4247
24.05.2011
Writing on the wall - Eric Fong
WWW
This project is inspired by the political, economic and cultural changes in China and Germany in 1989 and after. While East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania moved towards democracy in 1989, China killed pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Squ ...
This project is inspired by the political, economic and cultural changes in China and Germany in 1989 and after. While East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania moved towards democracy in 1989, China killed pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Squ ...
W4490
25.05.2011
TerraLoop - W.A.Davison
WWW
William A. Davison is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Through his solo sound and performance project Songs of the New Erotics, Davison has been applying classic experimental music techniques to conceptual/pe ...
William A. Davison is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Through his solo sound and performance project Songs of the New Erotics, Davison has been applying classic experimental music techniques to conceptual/pe ...
W10296
01.01.2010
Industrial Park - Héctor Zamora
WWW
Industrial Park was proposed for 'Touched' the 6th Liverpool Biennial, 2010 Proposed to take place in the Liverpool docks area where new developments are replacing the old port and industry buildings, it is a large scale permanent intervention based on ...
Industrial Park was proposed for 'Touched' the 6th Liverpool Biennial, 2010 Proposed to take place in the Liverpool docks area where new developments are replacing the old port and industry buildings, it is a large scale permanent intervention based on ...
W5029
31.08.2012
Marsh Islands - Mags Harries & Lajos Heder
WWW
Mags Harries & Lajos Héder Marsh Islands Location: South Bay Harbor Trails, Boston, MA (Proposal 2006) Client: South Bay Harbor Trail Public Art Initiative, Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund of the City of Boston Material: Marsh grass, steel, structural ...
Mags Harries & Lajos Héder Marsh Islands Location: South Bay Harbor Trails, Boston, MA (Proposal 2006) Client: South Bay Harbor Trail Public Art Initiative, Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund of the City of Boston Material: Marsh grass, steel, structural ...
W5313
17.10.2012
“The Account” 2011 - Georgina Criddle
WWW
“The Account” 2011, is a detailed sketch and testimony of an unrealised installation project in a gas station in Berlin. The two pieces attempt to suspend the work in a potential space between fiction and reality. ...
“The Account” 2011, is a detailed sketch and testimony of an unrealised installation project in a gas station in Berlin. The two pieces attempt to suspend the work in a potential space between fiction and reality. ...
W3776
18.05.2011
The Game - Thea Lanzisero
WWW
Socrates Sculpture Park Proposal 2009 “The Game” Observation on the use of a rural, renewable plant media within an urban industrial setting I am curious as to the various adaptations and boundaries of bamboo. ...
Socrates Sculpture Park Proposal 2009 “The Game” Observation on the use of a rural, renewable plant media within an urban industrial setting I am curious as to the various adaptations and boundaries of bamboo. ...
W4058
23.05.2011
Karl Jensen
WWW
“Yet as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure: but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; ...
“Yet as the ever-woven verdant warp and woof intermixed and hummed around him, the mighty idler seemed the cunning weaver; himself all woven over with the vines; every month assuming greener, fresher verdure: but himself a skeleton. Life folded Death; ...
U9913
01.01.1974
654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha
Unbuilt Roads
This was a proposal for the Defense Urban Development area in the city of Paris. The work, which takes on the appearance of a monument, would consist of stone or marble plates, bolted together to create a weather proof box-shaped container, housing shelve ...
This was a proposal for the Defense Urban Development area in the city of Paris. The work, which takes on the appearance of a monument, would consist of stone or marble plates, bolted together to create a weather proof box-shaped container, housing shelve ...
W3545
12.05.2011
GOLDEN - Deanne Butterworth
WWW
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
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. ...
W4420
25.05.2011
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 developped by me about 50 years ago still do ...
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 developped by me about 50 years ago still do ...
W3754
18.05.2011
DATENRAUM DEUTSCHLAND (GERMANY DATA SPACE) (A TOPOGRAPHIC, NON-NARRATIVE INFORMATION COLLAGE / VIDEO INSTALLATION) - Ira Schneider
WWW
With support from the Fulbright Commission, Ira Schneider has produced a video installation which in one space presents the historic and contemporary German contribution to world culture. A map of Germany with its 16 federal states (Bundeslands) is tra ...
With support from the Fulbright Commission, Ira Schneider has produced a video installation which in one space presents the historic and contemporary German contribution to world culture. A map of Germany with its 16 federal states (Bundeslands) is tra ...
W4549
25.05.2011
Auto da fe.  - Paul Murnaghan
WWW
Auto da fe. Shortly before the demolition of Sean Tracey House AKA Pallas Heights, the keys to the gallery and studios will be handed over to Paul Murnaghan. Murnaghan has agreed with Pallas Heights’ curators, Mark Cullen and Brian Duggan, that he wil ...
Auto da fe. Shortly before the demolition of Sean Tracey House AKA Pallas Heights, the keys to the gallery and studios will be handed over to Paul Murnaghan. Murnaghan has agreed with Pallas Heights’ curators, Mark Cullen and Brian Duggan, that he wil ...
W4449
25.05.2011
20 Years After  - Xavier Rayuela
WWW
20 Years After As a par-time AIDS activist and militant, I decided to create an event to celebrate "A Day Without Art" by proposing an intervention / intrusion and re-staging residuals of my previous events related to AIDS. As an artist I was always fa ...
20 Years After As a par-time AIDS activist and militant, I decided to create an event to celebrate "A Day Without Art" by proposing an intervention / intrusion and re-staging residuals of my previous events related to AIDS. As an artist I was always fa ...
W5005
30.08.2012
Hanover House - Peter Friedl
WWW
Peter Friedl, Hanover House, 2003 Proposal for Hanover 5 inkjet prints, 100 x 133 cm each Hanover House (2003) Treehouses are common images and objects of desire for individualism, dropping out, childhood, being in tune with nature, self-determin ...
Peter Friedl, Hanover House, 2003 Proposal for Hanover 5 inkjet prints, 100 x 133 cm each Hanover House (2003) Treehouses are common images and objects of desire for individualism, dropping out, childhood, being in tune with nature, self-determin ...