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.

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

Passage - Richard Wentworth

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

Aus: Katalog 'Kunst bleibt Kunst' - Hans Peter Feldman

Untitled, modeled after the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal...  - Jenny Holzer

Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition - Richard Serra and Frank Gehry

2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4516
25.05.2011
Viktor Timofeev
WWW
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
W4807
07.08.2012
Wreck  - Boris Ondreička
WWW
sitting on the driver´s seat of the car wreck reading poems / singing lyrics aloud a couple having sex under that wreck 30 minutes 30 people listening / watching silently standing around and around midnight Wreck, Boris Ondreička ...
sitting on the driver´s seat of the car wreck reading poems / singing lyrics aloud a couple having sex under that wreck 30 minutes 30 people listening / watching silently standing around and around midnight Wreck, Boris Ondreička ...
W5367
19.10.2012
STATIC REVOLVER - Jessie Stead
WWW
Known for bad food but impressive panoramas, hundreds of revolving restaurants rotate imperceptibly on oversized turntables high above cities worldwide. This unrealized project is an experimental motion picture. ...
Known for bad food but impressive panoramas, hundreds of revolving restaurants rotate imperceptibly on oversized turntables high above cities worldwide. This unrealized project is an experimental motion picture. ...
W5121
18.09.2012
Mo White
WWW
In 2009 I made a film whose completion has been continually postponed. I made the film quickly with materials to hand, in Super 8 format. The making of the work was an immediate reaction and response to a small event. ‘In March 2009 I bought a lime ...
In 2009 I made a film whose completion has been continually postponed. I made the film quickly with materials to hand, in Super 8 format. The making of the work was an immediate reaction and response to a small event. ‘In March 2009 I bought a lime ...
W5096
12.09.2012
Kelly Malec-Kosak
WWW
W4188
24.05.2011
BIOTOPS - petra novakova ondreickova
WWW
I would like to create a largespace installation made by the paper. Title of work : BIOTOPS. Technique wich I would to use for my work created is filigran- perforated paper. Long-term work I interest on the paper. ...
I would like to create a largespace installation made by the paper. Title of work : BIOTOPS. Technique wich I would to use for my work created is filigran- perforated paper. Long-term work I interest on the paper. ...
W4962
21.08.2012
Erehaag (double row) - Art Van Triest
WWW
interactive double row (dutch: erehaag) http://youtu.be/zocvP7KFWmE ...
interactive double row (dutch: erehaag) http://youtu.be/zocvP7KFWmE ...
W3533
11.05.2011
The Pagoda - Michael Jantzen
WWW
Would be made from sustainably grown Western Red Cedar wood. Approximately twenty one feet wide, fifteen feet deep, and eighteen feet tall. ...
Would be made from sustainably grown Western Red Cedar wood. Approximately twenty one feet wide, fifteen feet deep, and eighteen feet tall. ...
W4095
23.05.2011
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013 - Stefano W. Pasquini
WWW
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013. As the political times have changed after 911, even my Unrealizeable Projects reflected this change. This one plays with the difficulties foreigners face when trying to move to the United States nowadays. ...
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013. As the political times have changed after 911, even my Unrealizeable Projects reflected this change. This one plays with the difficulties foreigners face when trying to move to the United States nowadays. ...
W4702
26.05.2011
The Cube - Lisa Hein
WWW
Proposal Rockaway 9/11 memorial Lisa Hein 2002 THE CUBE A bleacher faces the water on Jamaica Bay. It watches the Manhattan skyline to the northwest. The center of the bleacher is cut out in a square. A black cube rises through. ...
Proposal Rockaway 9/11 memorial Lisa Hein 2002 THE CUBE A bleacher faces the water on Jamaica Bay. It watches the Manhattan skyline to the northwest. The center of the bleacher is cut out in a square. A black cube rises through. ...
W5013
30.08.2012
Children of the Enemy - Edward Walsh
WWW
Children of the Enemy is a sculpture dedicated to the children on either side of any conflict down through history. Stand before them and become the attacker. Stand behind them and become the attacked. "Children of the Enemy", model for bronze, 55" h ...
Children of the Enemy is a sculpture dedicated to the children on either side of any conflict down through history. Stand before them and become the attacker. Stand behind them and become the attacked. "Children of the Enemy", model for bronze, 55" h ...
U9293
01.01.1978
The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois
Unbuilt Roads
A circular construction in wood, painted sky blue and white. In 3 dimensions. An upside down dome. A small figure stands in the center. (eventually reasons why the work has not be realized) Complicated and too expensive but never discarded. ...
A circular construction in wood, painted sky blue and white. In 3 dimensions. An upside down dome. A small figure stands in the center. (eventually reasons why the work has not be realized) Complicated and too expensive but never discarded. ...
W4615
25.05.2011
Tia-Simone Gardner
WWW
The project that I am working on is a more involved video project, developed out of an installation of stills, that will re-narrate, and re-edit, Ousmane Sembene's 1966 film 'La noire de.' I began the ground work for this project over a year ago while thi ...
The project that I am working on is a more involved video project, developed out of an installation of stills, that will re-narrate, and re-edit, Ousmane Sembene's 1966 film 'La noire de.' I began the ground work for this project over a year ago while thi ...
W3725
17.05.2011
"The Well" by day and "The Cave" by night - Sissel Kardel
WWW
A four story tower, in the shape of a standing female figure, facade like that of a log cabin which you can enter and explore. Sissel Kardel works from documentary photographs that correspond to visions in which a contemplative female figure is set a ...
A four story tower, in the shape of a standing female figure, facade like that of a log cabin which you can enter and explore. Sissel Kardel works from documentary photographs that correspond to visions in which a contemplative female figure is set a ...
W4541
25.05.2011
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME”  - Maria Dundakova
WWW
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME” The central theme of the Biennale Sao Paulo was “The Holistic Global Tendencies of Humankind at the End of the 20th Century”. Based on the personal invitation of the jury of the Biennale, I further developed the pro ...
Project SUN RITE “BAPTISME” The central theme of the Biennale Sao Paulo was “The Holistic Global Tendencies of Humankind at the End of the 20th Century”. Based on the personal invitation of the jury of the Biennale, I further developed the pro ...
W4538
25.05.2011
G.R. and M.F. for Le C.C.C.
WWW
Cher A.U.P., nous abordons ces côtes optiques par cette lettre intraduisible pour essayer de décrocher un peu d'argent, ou du moins poursuivre notre existence momentanée par votre lecture profane. Ayant montré un intérêt pour les projets irré ...
Cher A.U.P., nous abordons ces côtes optiques par cette lettre intraduisible pour essayer de décrocher un peu d'argent, ou du moins poursuivre notre existence momentanée par votre lecture profane. Ayant montré un intérêt pour les projets irré ...
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 ...
W5364
19.10.2012
Ongoing Meeting Between Reality and Memory - Na'ama Zussman
WWW
Unrealized Project : This work offers an Ongoing Meeting Between Reality and Memory, onto anyone can reflects and projects himself, as his dimensions of presentation – past , present, future and time, and therefore creates sustainable relations betwe ...
Unrealized Project : This work offers an Ongoing Meeting Between Reality and Memory, onto anyone can reflects and projects himself, as his dimensions of presentation – past , present, future and time, and therefore creates sustainable relations betwe ...
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 ...
W4852
08.08.2012
Ada Muntean
WWW
These are 2 photos of 2 experimental works which consist in the process of the reconstruction of possible realities from former realities. Basicaly they are stripes (cut from photos and drawings) reordered and sticked in a different way from the initial.. ...
These are 2 photos of 2 experimental works which consist in the process of the reconstruction of possible realities from former realities. Basicaly they are stripes (cut from photos and drawings) reordered and sticked in a different way from the initial.. ...
W10876
12.02.2015
Walking (Autonomous) Sculpture - Genco Gulan
WWW
I am interested in making moving (autonomous) sculptures with real robots. I did worked with some other different kinds of robots and got a prize with them at EMAF in 2005 as part of a larger project . But they were smaller, and theri walking, moving capa ...
I am interested in making moving (autonomous) sculptures with real robots. I did worked with some other different kinds of robots and got a prize with them at EMAF in 2005 as part of a larger project . But they were smaller, and theri walking, moving capa ...
W4294
24.05.2011
Holger C. Lönze
WWW
The proposed two-part sculpture draws from the rich maritime heritage of the Atlantic and celebrates the elements that have determined the lives of generations of local communities: wind and tides. The context for the two parts of the work are the iconic ...
The proposed two-part sculpture draws from the rich maritime heritage of the Atlantic and celebrates the elements that have determined the lives of generations of local communities: wind and tides. The context for the two parts of the work are the iconic ...
W3591
13.05.2011
Museum of Unrealized Projects - Stephen Perkins
WWW
Please find attached a work titled "Museum of Unrealized Projects," (2011). This museum can be utilized as the final resting place of the Agency of Unrealized Projects - this museum charges no entrance fees and accepts donations on an unjuried basis. ...
Please find attached a work titled "Museum of Unrealized Projects," (2011). This museum can be utilized as the final resting place of the Agency of Unrealized Projects - this museum charges no entrance fees and accepts donations on an unjuried basis. ...
W3751
18.05.2011
A FIRED FIELD - HECTOR MAVRIDIS
WWW
The action of breaking and turning over earth with a plow always fascinated me, the clods of earth being the result of this action, a simple 'gesture' from a machine which nevertheless brings about a dramatic change to the landscape, an awesome ephemeral ...
The action of breaking and turning over earth with a plow always fascinated me, the clods of earth being the result of this action, a simple 'gesture' from a machine which nevertheless brings about a dramatic change to the landscape, an awesome ephemeral ...
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 ...
W4879
09.08.2012
The Gutenbird - Lanie Gannon
WWW
The Gutenbird The Gutenbird is an unrealized suspended artwork intended for a public library. On one level it celebrates the handmade and well crafted and on another level implies the innovative and significant achievements of the first printing press ...
The Gutenbird The Gutenbird is an unrealized suspended artwork intended for a public library. On one level it celebrates the handmade and well crafted and on another level implies the innovative and significant achievements of the first printing press ...