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.

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

654 THINGS from The United States - Edward Ruscha

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

Chen H.V.O + G.T. - Bertrand Lavier

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

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

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4873
09.08.2012
Forms of Responsibility - Jenny Brown
WWW
Forms of Responsibility • Recent Projects by Jenny Brown Jenny Brown Tied (Melting Ice Sea Creatures), 2006 Video Still Variable Dimensions In early 2005, an elegant gesture of product repatriation was conceived and produced by Jenny Brown as a way of b ...
Forms of Responsibility • Recent Projects by Jenny Brown Jenny Brown Tied (Melting Ice Sea Creatures), 2006 Video Still Variable Dimensions In early 2005, an elegant gesture of product repatriation was conceived and produced by Jenny Brown as a way of b ...
W5123
18.09.2012
Transit/Stasis - Danielle Giudici Wallis
WWW
A proposal for the entrance of the San Francisco Public Library based on the Principle of Least Effort (George Kingsley Zipf, 1949) Transit/Stasis As I emerged from the BART station, I was taken with the sight of a commuter who opted to walk up the ...
A proposal for the entrance of the San Francisco Public Library based on the Principle of Least Effort (George Kingsley Zipf, 1949) Transit/Stasis As I emerged from the BART station, I was taken with the sight of a commuter who opted to walk up the ...
W4322
24.05.2011
Laboratory for Perfecting Fear - Transidency
WWW
Laboratory for Perfecting Fear (working title) Proposal for the II Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Contents Proposal Proposed Installation Background Theory Possible problems and Possible Solutions Methodology Locations Support About Trans ...
Laboratory for Perfecting Fear (working title) Proposal for the II Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Contents Proposal Proposed Installation Background Theory Possible problems and Possible Solutions Methodology Locations Support About Trans ...
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 ...
W4863
09.08.2012
Zeitstück - Alexander Hahn
WWW
Zeitstück Video-Installation von Alexander Hahn, vers. Juni 05, 1996 Beschreibung Entstehung: Eingeladene Wettbewerbseingabe Kunst am Bau Neubau ETH Leonardstrasse Zürich. Nicht realisiert. Die Jury befürchtete damals, die Studenten könnten s ...
Zeitstück Video-Installation von Alexander Hahn, vers. Juni 05, 1996 Beschreibung Entstehung: Eingeladene Wettbewerbseingabe Kunst am Bau Neubau ETH Leonardstrasse Zürich. Nicht realisiert. Die Jury befürchtete damals, die Studenten könnten s ...
W3588
13.05.2011
Dulce Despertar - Soraya Marcano
WWW
Date started: February, 2010 Idea: El cafÈ como espacio creativo Definition: Cafe, CafÈ, CaffË a coffee house, a small restaurant selling coffee and sometimes other drinks or snack with a facility to consume them on the premises. A project ab ...
Date started: February, 2010 Idea: El cafÈ como espacio creativo Definition: Cafe, CafÈ, CaffË a coffee house, a small restaurant selling coffee and sometimes other drinks or snack with a facility to consume them on the premises. A project ab ...
W5021
31.08.2012
Speakers Platform - Dimitris Dokatzis
WWW
SPEAKERS’ PLATFORM Concept of work ‘SPEAKERS’ PLATFORM’ is inspired by the protests that took place in Athens in the summer of 2011 across Syntagma (Constitution) Square. The protesters, known as “disappointed citizens”, in line with t ...
SPEAKERS’ PLATFORM Concept of work ‘SPEAKERS’ PLATFORM’ is inspired by the protests that took place in Athens in the summer of 2011 across Syntagma (Constitution) Square. The protesters, known as “disappointed citizens”, in line with t ...
W3711
17.05.2011
Place Jacques-Cartier, Montréal 1990 (with Tony Fretton) - Mark Pimlott
WWW
This project proposed a monumental surface for Place Jacques-Cartier that resembled the streets an unconscious places that were typical of Montréal’s topography. The ground was conceived of as a portion of the granite shield that the city is built on, ...
This project proposed a monumental surface for Place Jacques-Cartier that resembled the streets an unconscious places that were typical of Montréal’s topography. The ground was conceived of as a portion of the granite shield that the city is built on, ...
W5390
20.10.2012
Jesvin Yeo
WWW
Unrealized Project by Jesvin Yeo The initial intention of this project was to design and create a series of dolls to illustrate the dark period of Singapore in 1950s. When there had been more than 30 secret societies and almost everyday, there were gan ...
Unrealized Project by Jesvin Yeo The initial intention of this project was to design and create a series of dolls to illustrate the dark period of Singapore in 1950s. When there had been more than 30 secret societies and almost everyday, there were gan ...
W4060
23.05.2011
Unrealized Project: Town Square  - Rebecca Herman and Mark Shoffner
WWW
Town Square is comprised of several sculptural elements: a tall, narrow, guillotine‐like structure in wood (without a blade); a series of steps leading up to the guillotine from the back; a basket on the floor in front of the guillotine; and two halves ...
Town Square is comprised of several sculptural elements: a tall, narrow, guillotine‐like structure in wood (without a blade); a series of steps leading up to the guillotine from the back; a basket on the floor in front of the guillotine; and two halves ...
W5085
09.09.2012
The Great Public Sale of unrealized but brilliant Ideas - Prinz Gholam
WWW
In 2008 we made a collage which was a sketch to a deeper longing to create a performance in and for the Kamihohikawa studio of Kazuo Ohno. It was built by Ohno to create and practice his work. In 2010 Sarah Vanhee approached us to take part in her project ...
In 2008 we made a collage which was a sketch to a deeper longing to create a performance in and for the Kamihohikawa studio of Kazuo Ohno. It was built by Ohno to create and practice his work. In 2010 Sarah Vanhee approached us to take part in her project ...
W3895
20.05.2011
Editorial Sculpture: Divina Commedia  - Javier Toro Blum
WWW
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. With a 2.5mm typography ev ...
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. With a 2.5mm typography ev ...
W4703
26.05.2011
Sterling Crispin
WWW
My project involves a globally connected network of participants wearing EEG brain-computer interfaces. By displaying the average of thousands of live readings back to the participants their minds will slowly become closer to the average. Emerging brai ...
My project involves a globally connected network of participants wearing EEG brain-computer interfaces. By displaying the average of thousands of live readings back to the participants their minds will slowly become closer to the average. Emerging brai ...
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 ...
W5198
03.10.2012
Radiation Limit - Sarah Kanouse
WWW
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
W4958
20.08.2012
Fish Food Living - Eugene Soler
WWW
Fish Food Living By Eugene Soler AUP Submission Three-quarters of the world’s ocean is over fished and with food prices soaring and energy resource depleting, we are constantly living in a society where our food resource is unsustainable, unaffor ...
Fish Food Living By Eugene Soler AUP Submission Three-quarters of the world’s ocean is over fished and with food prices soaring and energy resource depleting, we are constantly living in a society where our food resource is unsustainable, unaffor ...
W4907
13.08.2012
Text - Cristina Zabalaga
WWW
A 16:43 min fictional experimental film exploring the limits of language. Why can‘t we live without words? The continuity of language and discourse constitutes a bridge over the abyss of loss and despair. Text THE WASTE LAND, T.S. Eliot II. A ...
A 16:43 min fictional experimental film exploring the limits of language. Why can‘t we live without words? The continuity of language and discourse constitutes a bridge over the abyss of loss and despair. Text THE WASTE LAND, T.S. Eliot II. A ...
W4066
23.05.2011
Public Phones - János Sugár
WWW
My work is a public telephone located centrally in a city, or in the lobby of a public building. There is a board above the telephone on which is written: "This is a free phone, but the conversations are being recorded and published later word by word." ...
My work is a public telephone located centrally in a city, or in the lobby of a public building. There is a board above the telephone on which is written: "This is a free phone, but the conversations are being recorded and published later word by word." ...
W3944
20.05.2011
The Triumph of Oil Painting (TOP) - Mo Abd-Ulla
WWW
99 Iraqi artists will be invited to make 99 paintings of oil/ petroleum on paper or canvas. TOP is structured to take place at 99-public spaces for 33 days. It is an independently curated multi-site-showcasing 99 Oil painting of 99 emerging and establi ...
99 Iraqi artists will be invited to make 99 paintings of oil/ petroleum on paper or canvas. TOP is structured to take place at 99-public spaces for 33 days. It is an independently curated multi-site-showcasing 99 Oil painting of 99 emerging and establi ...
D10795
01.01.2000
Life Exchange - Carolina Caycedo
DAAD
This project consists in bartering your life for mine. Este proyecto consiste en intercambiar tu vida por la mía. Dieses Projekt besteht darin, Ihr Leben gegen meines zu tauschen. If interested please contact: Interesados contactar: Be ...
This project consists in bartering your life for mine. Este proyecto consiste en intercambiar tu vida por la mía. Dieses Projekt besteht darin, Ihr Leben gegen meines zu tauschen. If interested please contact: Interesados contactar: Be ...
W4558
25.05.2011
rezaafsari
WWW
W3559
12.05.2011
David Detrich
WWW
My current project involves coring through art periodicals with the intent to obscure the distinctions between the fashion industry and the art world. The periodical ArtForum is a "container" of such dichotomies. I've constructed a tool that cores through ...
My current project involves coring through art periodicals with the intent to obscure the distinctions between the fashion industry and the art world. The periodical ArtForum is a "container" of such dichotomies. I've constructed a tool that cores through ...
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. ...
W4744
26.05.2011
Gema Alava
WWW
Glenn D. Lowry Director The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019 January 20, 2009 Dear Glenn, The best way I can think of introducing myself after the brief conversation with you tonight is to say that, ...
Glenn D. Lowry Director The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019 January 20, 2009 Dear Glenn, The best way I can think of introducing myself after the brief conversation with you tonight is to say that, ...
W5117
17.09.2012
Cliff Dwelling - Adam Kuby
WWW
Proposal for a sculpture that provides nesting habitat for peregrine falcons in a skyscraper. Adam Kuby, Artis t adam@adamkuby.com www.adamkuby.com 7019 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97215 (503) 752-5241 Call for Unrealized Projects Submission Cliff ...
Proposal for a sculpture that provides nesting habitat for peregrine falcons in a skyscraper. Adam Kuby, Artis t adam@adamkuby.com www.adamkuby.com 7019 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97215 (503) 752-5241 Call for Unrealized Projects Submission Cliff ...
W11076
07.04.2016
Temple of Modern Virtue - Vilja Achté
WWW
My work revolves around the relevance of the intentionally incomplete state as a method of production in art and design practice. The term itself is an adaptation of the Renaissance term ‘non-finito’, which quite literally means ‘not finished’, an ...
My work revolves around the relevance of the intentionally incomplete state as a method of production in art and design practice. The term itself is an adaptation of the Renaissance term ‘non-finito’, which quite literally means ‘not finished’, an ...