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.

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

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

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

Arrangement Stroom HCBK Den Haag - Ange Leccia

Eight Days a Week - Joe Scanlan

d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. - Christian Boltanski

119. PROJET DE DESTRUCTION DU MUSEE 1970 - 1971 - Jef Geys

Uncompleted 1966 - and on  - John Armleder

Why New Worlds Conceived by Artists Do Not Get Built - Peter Fend

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4293
24.05.2011
BATIBURRILLO(S) - BATIBURRILLOS
WWW
BATIBURRILLO(S) According to the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language (RAE) ‘Batiburrillo(s)’ means: 1. m. Mezcla de cosas, especialmente de guisados, que no dicen bien unas con otras. 1. m. Mixture of things, especially stews, t ...
BATIBURRILLO(S) According to the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language (RAE) ‘Batiburrillo(s)’ means: 1. m. Mezcla de cosas, especialmente de guisados, que no dicen bien unas con otras. 1. m. Mixture of things, especially stews, t ...
W5171
26.09.2012
Park a person - Heidi Stokes
WWW
Park a person traces an individual’s life and their highs and lows. The piece offers an unusual treatment. Every individual troubled, can go to a space were you can park yourself, as a place for refuge or time out. Based on a true documented account. ...
Park a person traces an individual’s life and their highs and lows. The piece offers an unusual treatment. Every individual troubled, can go to a space were you can park yourself, as a place for refuge or time out. Based on a true documented account. ...
W3660
15.05.2011
Hannah Ross
WWW
Inspired by Janet Cardiff, creating a room for observation that requires community participation. It will be a life sized entry hallway, with a side table, telephone, and answering machine. I will have a public campaign of distributing the phone number wi ...
Inspired by Janet Cardiff, creating a room for observation that requires community participation. It will be a life sized entry hallway, with a side table, telephone, and answering machine. I will have a public campaign of distributing the phone number wi ...
W4501
25.05.2011
My Modern Life
WWW
My Modern Life _ text The project shows the search of young Latvians for indivudual aims, wishes, planes, freedom and others – in Latvian, English, German and Russian. It is an interdisciplinary project of film, photography and interverntion i ...
My Modern Life _ text The project shows the search of young Latvians for indivudual aims, wishes, planes, freedom and others – in Latvian, English, German and Russian. It is an interdisciplinary project of film, photography and interverntion i ...
W3846
19.05.2011
We Prowl - Jodi Patterson
WWW
"We Prowl" series. Drew idealistic male forms on plastic as inspired by online personal profiles. Titles came from the tag lines used to lure a mate (submitting "Black Cat Hunting 4 Goddess" and "Wealth and Power"). Wealthy and Strong * 32- ...
"We Prowl" series. Drew idealistic male forms on plastic as inspired by online personal profiles. Titles came from the tag lines used to lure a mate (submitting "Black Cat Hunting 4 Goddess" and "Wealth and Power"). Wealthy and Strong * 32- ...
U9660
01.01.1995
Double Exposure 1995-6  - Dan Graham
Unbuilt Roads
This pavilion is enterable through a sliding 2-way mirror door in one side, is sited in a landscape with some trees, a large visible vista. The 4m x 4m x 4m pavilion has two 2-way mirror sides. The third side is a cibachrome transparency which shows th ...
This pavilion is enterable through a sliding 2-way mirror door in one side, is sited in a landscape with some trees, a large visible vista. The 4m x 4m x 4m pavilion has two 2-way mirror sides. The third side is a cibachrome transparency which shows th ...
W4460
25.05.2011
Wish Tree - Soyoung Park
WWW
Wish Tree I am drawn to the naivety of the words “wish” and “tree”. In the current cultural atmosphere of criticality, the naive cliche of growing wishes on a tree feels almost refreshing. But then I question what kinds of wishes we can grow on ...
Wish Tree I am drawn to the naivety of the words “wish” and “tree”. In the current cultural atmosphere of criticality, the naive cliche of growing wishes on a tree feels almost refreshing. But then I question what kinds of wishes we can grow on ...
W5023
31.08.2012
Rooted - John Gayer
WWW
ROOTED This unrealised project primarily exists in the imagination. It involves an extended performance that demands stasis and proposes an evolutionary shift. This shift could take centuries to happen. The idea, in part, derives from a time when I produ ...
ROOTED This unrealised project primarily exists in the imagination. It involves an extended performance that demands stasis and proposes an evolutionary shift. This shift could take centuries to happen. The idea, in part, derives from a time when I produ ...
W4666
25.05.2011
Carlos Lérias
WWW
The fragments presented here by the Migratory Museum, are the parts of a live cast mask of my face. Moved on in one hand by the incessant obsession with disappearance, invisibility, forgetfulness and nomadism, and on the other hand by the museum’s troub ...
The fragments presented here by the Migratory Museum, are the parts of a live cast mask of my face. Moved on in one hand by the incessant obsession with disappearance, invisibility, forgetfulness and nomadism, and on the other hand by the museum’s troub ...
W4034
22.05.2011
Juarez's Feet - Renato Garza Cervera
WWW
"Juarez's Feet" is a work in process which pretends to build someday in India a monument that will work as the extension of the monument dedicated to Benito Juarez in Mexico's capital city. Mexico and India are antipodal territories in the northern hem ...
"Juarez's Feet" is a work in process which pretends to build someday in India a monument that will work as the extension of the monument dedicated to Benito Juarez in Mexico's capital city. Mexico and India are antipodal territories in the northern hem ...
W5475
21.10.2012
FROM RAPHAEL TO MOHAMED - Mo Abd-Ulla
WWW
The transformation of aesthetics and politics A practical research explicitly distinguishes between what is beautiful and what is interesting, exploring the differences between representation and reality. The project tackles the religious, social, c ...
The transformation of aesthetics and politics A practical research explicitly distinguishes between what is beautiful and what is interesting, exploring the differences between representation and reality. The project tackles the religious, social, c ...
W3875
19.05.2011
TERRITORY: Bank parking lot mural Canada - Derek Michael Besant
WWW
Client: Bank of Nova Scotia / Canada Date: 2010 Industrial UV ink imaging applications to large-scale alucobond curtainwall sheets at second storey level attached in sections that create a narrative of: • Out-of-focus faces • Everyday objects ...
Client: Bank of Nova Scotia / Canada Date: 2010 Industrial UV ink imaging applications to large-scale alucobond curtainwall sheets at second storey level attached in sections that create a narrative of: • Out-of-focus faces • Everyday objects ...
W3842
19.05.2011
BLIND SPOT - KimSu Theiler
WWW
dimensions variable Can we turn the horror of being dematerialized whether in the eyes of a beloved or in a community into the super-hero power of invisibility and back again. 8 cameras in a circle point out over the room. 8 grid camera view re ...
dimensions variable Can we turn the horror of being dematerialized whether in the eyes of a beloved or in a community into the super-hero power of invisibility and back again. 8 cameras in a circle point out over the room. 8 grid camera view re ...
W3750
18.05.2011
Red stars, 2008 - Tanja Lazetic
WWW
Early in 2008 I was planning a coloring action. There is a historical monument in Ljubljana called The Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship; consisting of a walkway almost ringing Ljubljana; its signposts bear the emblem of the red star. Over time, the re ...
Early in 2008 I was planning a coloring action. There is a historical monument in Ljubljana called The Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship; consisting of a walkway almost ringing Ljubljana; its signposts bear the emblem of the red star. Over time, the re ...
W3996
21.05.2011
Jana Leo de blas
WWW
SEX-ROOM / SEX BOOTH-Jana Leo-2001 Where is the Sex-Room? Straight to the end on your right. A table for ironing, a room for bath, another for the bed, a dinning-table, a Laundromat a place for the laundry, an exercise facility: a gym….Space named by ...
SEX-ROOM / SEX BOOTH-Jana Leo-2001 Where is the Sex-Room? Straight to the end on your right. A table for ironing, a room for bath, another for the bed, a dinning-table, a Laundromat a place for the laundry, an exercise facility: a gym….Space named by ...
W4894
10.08.2012
The Wave - Mac Adams
WWW
'The Wave' 1989. Proposal for the Merchant marines memorial off shore Battery Park New York City. More information can be found on. macadamsstudio.com ...
'The Wave' 1989. Proposal for the Merchant marines memorial off shore Battery Park New York City. More information can be found on. macadamsstudio.com ...
W4955
20.08.2012
Museum of Rene's Contemptorary Art - Rene Price
WWW
MORCA Museum of Rene’s Contemporary Art Rene has produced too much Artstuff. He likes all of it and he has been able to afford to keep it all in storage. His website (www.reneprice.ca) presents 1000 of his more than 2000 3 ...
MORCA Museum of Rene’s Contemporary Art Rene has produced too much Artstuff. He likes all of it and he has been able to afford to keep it all in storage. His website (www.reneprice.ca) presents 1000 of his more than 2000 3 ...
W4772
29.05.2011
Unrealized Artist Identity - Katharina Galla
WWW
Unrealized Artist Identity This project is a life. Embodied by a person, who is frequently reckoned to be an artists. "So, you are an artist…", they say. Sometimes, I embrace my unrealized identity. It feels like a factoid, not a li ...
Unrealized Artist Identity This project is a life. Embodied by a person, who is frequently reckoned to be an artists. "So, you are an artist…", they say. Sometimes, I embrace my unrealized identity. It feels like a factoid, not a li ...
W3542
12.05.2011
Nathan Danilowicz
WWW
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
W4237
24.05.2011
Susanna Byrne
WWW
People are incalculable, not perfect organisms. Systems and processes require the functioning of all the appropriate elements of a formula - remove, alter, adjust or replace any and the algorithm will malfunction. There is a vernacular of aesthetics emb ...
People are incalculable, not perfect organisms. Systems and processes require the functioning of all the appropriate elements of a formula - remove, alter, adjust or replace any and the algorithm will malfunction. There is a vernacular of aesthetics emb ...
U9793
01.01.1997
Isometric Projection - Sol Lewitt
Unbuilt Roads
W5450
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” A house or room, housed elsewhere. A large room or rectangular structure set within another space, so that one can see the outside of it and move into its interior. A more ambit ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING III: “NO-PLACE SPACE” A house or room, housed elsewhere. A large room or rectangular structure set within another space, so that one can see the outside of it and move into its interior. A more ambit ...
W4477
25.05.2011
"Qu et Ho pt l Zone" - Jim Ricks
WWW
"Qu et Ho pt l Zone" Proposed public piece by Jim Ricks To be located in the River Fergus, Ennis, Co. Clare. Supported by the Clare County Council. ...
"Qu et Ho pt l Zone" Proposed public piece by Jim Ricks To be located in the River Fergus, Ennis, Co. Clare. Supported by the Clare County Council. ...
W4672
26.05.2011
Neural Portal - Stephen Pusey
WWW
Neural Portal Transient installation on 26th Street, West Chelsea, NYC Artist: Stephen Pusey The image would be created by high intensity pulses of light emitted from hundreds of lasers embedded in the frame. The effect is to create a warping field tha ...
Neural Portal Transient installation on 26th Street, West Chelsea, NYC Artist: Stephen Pusey The image would be created by high intensity pulses of light emitted from hundreds of lasers embedded in the frame. The effect is to create a warping field tha ...
W4735
26.05.2011
Swans - Wiebke Maria Wachmann
WWW
W3665
15.05.2011
DENKMAL FUR FREIHEIT UND EINHEIT BERLIN  - Irene Judong
WWW
Die Idee: Die Idee ist ein Park, der für die Bevölkerung zugänglich ist und insbesondere auch für kleine Kinder und Rollstuhlfahrer geeignet ist. Im Zentrum des Parks befinden sich ein Teich und eine Skulptur (vgl. Abbildungen). Das Konzept: “E ...
Die Idee: Die Idee ist ein Park, der für die Bevölkerung zugänglich ist und insbesondere auch für kleine Kinder und Rollstuhlfahrer geeignet ist. Im Zentrum des Parks befinden sich ein Teich und eine Skulptur (vgl. Abbildungen). Das Konzept: “E ...