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.

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

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

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

Art and Ourselves: A Proposal for the city of Nordhorn - Allen Rupperssberg

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

Nicht realisierte Projekte - Stefan Demary

Ruderaltisch, 1994/95 Kunst am Bau - Projekt - Lois Weinberger

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4498
25.05.2011
Elaine Leader
WWW
Proposal Model for Installation – Sensor activated walls that move back and forth alternately in the space very slowly using an automatic gate mechanism, dissecting the space and controlling the movement of the viewer within it, creating a disruption of ...
Proposal Model for Installation – Sensor activated walls that move back and forth alternately in the space very slowly using an automatic gate mechanism, dissecting the space and controlling the movement of the viewer within it, creating a disruption of ...
W4392
25.05.2011
Dig a hole through the middle of the Earth.  - Gernot Wieland
WWW
Dig a hole through the middle of the Earth. When one jumps into this hole, he or she flies, for example, from Berlin to China. Naturally, with gravity, the speed of travel be- comes enormous. However, as one flies past the centre of the Earth the s ...
Dig a hole through the middle of the Earth. When one jumps into this hole, he or she flies, for example, from Berlin to China. Naturally, with gravity, the speed of travel be- comes enormous. However, as one flies past the centre of the Earth the s ...
W4748
27.05.2011
Retail Therapy - Double A Projects (A. Robles & A. Stein)
WWW
PROPOSAL Title of project: Retail Therapy By: Athena Robles and Anna Stein (aka Double A Projects) Similar to our public project Global Free Store, Retail Therapy is a non-commercial storefront and exhibition that would offer various service ...
PROPOSAL Title of project: Retail Therapy By: Athena Robles and Anna Stein (aka Double A Projects) Similar to our public project Global Free Store, Retail Therapy is a non-commercial storefront and exhibition that would offer various service ...
U9945
01.01.1994
MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel
Unbuilt Roads
Idee: linke Autospur de [unleserlich] durch dis [?]halle (Saal) verlege[?]. ...
Idee: linke Autospur de [unleserlich] durch dis [?]halle (Saal) verlege[?]. ...
W3713
17.05.2011
A passage, London 1999 (project, with Sergison Bates architects) - Mark Pimlott
WWW
Sutton-walk is a special place poised between two differently proposed versions or conceptions of London. One is chaotic, the other has an idea of itself as ideal, a fantasy about how London could be. Both are London, both are legitimate, both are produ ...
Sutton-walk is a special place poised between two differently proposed versions or conceptions of London. One is chaotic, the other has an idea of itself as ideal, a fantasy about how London could be. Both are London, both are legitimate, both are produ ...
W3624
14.05.2011
Steve Rosenthal
WWW
Unrealized project from March 2008. The proposal was made to Acantia Health and Beauty Ltd, seeking sponsorship in the form of 6000 bars of Coal Tar Soap to realize the construction of a 'Yellow Brick Road' for my final degree show. Please see text (i ...
Unrealized project from March 2008. The proposal was made to Acantia Health and Beauty Ltd, seeking sponsorship in the form of 6000 bars of Coal Tar Soap to realize the construction of a 'Yellow Brick Road' for my final degree show. Please see text (i ...
W3639
14.05.2011
lynn hershman Leeson
WWW
This project develops a series of clothing that repels surveillance systems, reflects environments and renders users invisible. ...
This project develops a series of clothing that repels surveillance systems, reflects environments and renders users invisible. ...
W4134
23.05.2011
The Order of Reflections - Jerzy Olek
WWW
Jerzy Olek The Order of Reflections In former centuries in order to transpose a view onto a piece of paper draughtsmen used a frames screen divided into square sections. They observed the view through their perspective machine, and built their pictu ...
Jerzy Olek The Order of Reflections In former centuries in order to transpose a view onto a piece of paper draughtsmen used a frames screen divided into square sections. They observed the view through their perspective machine, and built their pictu ...
W4049
22.05.2011
Geno project - Leo Morrissey
WWW
Ten years ago in a museum in Milan Italy it was pointed out to me that there was an uncanny resemblance between myself and one of the multitude of Roman marble bust sculptures in the museum… This moment got me thinking about the connections between peop ...
Ten years ago in a museum in Milan Italy it was pointed out to me that there was an uncanny resemblance between myself and one of the multitude of Roman marble bust sculptures in the museum… This moment got me thinking about the connections between peop ...
W10927
20.06.2015
If all the waves can be saved - Yifei He
WWW
One room, one chair with endless waves. I want to put waves into one space, it will end at the middle of the space, put one chair towards the waves . People can not step twice into the same river, and people also can not meet the very same two waves. ...
One room, one chair with endless waves. I want to put waves into one space, it will end at the middle of the space, put one chair towards the waves . People can not step twice into the same river, and people also can not meet the very same two waves. ...
W3500
11.05.2011
MI6 – songs of british intelligence - Suzanne Treister
WWW
Suzanne Treister Director International Corporation of Lost Structures (ICOLS) www.icols.org I will inhabit an apartment inside MI6, British Intelligence HQ, located on the River Thames at Vauxhall, London, for a period of one year. Equipment in ...
Suzanne Treister Director International Corporation of Lost Structures (ICOLS) www.icols.org I will inhabit an apartment inside MI6, British Intelligence HQ, located on the River Thames at Vauxhall, London, for a period of one year. Equipment in ...
W4296
24.05.2011
THIS DOES NOT ADVERTISE ANYTHING AT ALL - Reynard Loki
WWW
THIS DOES NOT ADVERTISE ANYTHING AT ALL An Unrealized Project by Reynard Loki This project exists entirely as the articulation of the text of the work’s title -- “THIS DOES NOT ADVERTISE ANYTHING AT ALL” -- onto billboards and other public adv ...
THIS DOES NOT ADVERTISE ANYTHING AT ALL An Unrealized Project by Reynard Loki This project exists entirely as the articulation of the text of the work’s title -- “THIS DOES NOT ADVERTISE ANYTHING AT ALL” -- onto billboards and other public adv ...
U9948
30.01.1997
My House - Uri Tzaig
Unbuilt Roads
Like initiation, one has to build his own house, as shown to him in his own dreams. Useing the colors he likes, the shapes he fells, the distances his own body needs, giving names to things, functions, in his language. This house, that was built in my min ...
Like initiation, one has to build his own house, as shown to him in his own dreams. Useing the colors he likes, the shapes he fells, the distances his own body needs, giving names to things, functions, in his language. This house, that was built in my min ...
W4043
22.05.2011
THE LIVING WATER - Rodica A Miller
WWW
There have always been vanguardists, people with innovative ideas who opened new horizons and trends. For me, this is one of my unrealized projects for Art & Technology. As a subjective experience, my painting is an illusory world of colors, metaphors ...
There have always been vanguardists, people with innovative ideas who opened new horizons and trends. For me, this is one of my unrealized projects for Art & Technology. As a subjective experience, my painting is an illusory world of colors, metaphors ...
U9701
01.01.1994
Festival du film de famille - Pierre Huyghe
Unbuilt Roads
Le Festival du film de famille est un événement qui séted sur 3 jours, c'est le pant de dipart d'une dénie partagée qui peut se répéter sur plusieurs [arnisé?]. Une communanté affactive [illisible] son [basan?] d'histories par sa propre producti ...
Le Festival du film de famille est un événement qui séted sur 3 jours, c'est le pant de dipart d'une dénie partagée qui peut se répéter sur plusieurs [arnisé?]. Une communanté affactive [illisible] son [basan?] d'histories par sa propre producti ...
W4397
25.05.2011
Flâneur - konstantinos-antonios goutos / the[video]Flâneu®
WWW
PROJECT [video]Flâneu® The artist walks like a „Flâneur“ through the city. He does not have a turtle with him (as the original Parisian Flâneur of the 1830‘s used to); later, he does not write stories (as Edgar Allan Poe or Hans Christian Ande ...
PROJECT [video]Flâneu® The artist walks like a „Flâneur“ through the city. He does not have a turtle with him (as the original Parisian Flâneur of the 1830‘s used to); later, he does not write stories (as Edgar Allan Poe or Hans Christian Ande ...
W4938
19.08.2012
You Are Here - Silvio Valpreda
WWW
Silvio Valpreda impossible art project YOU ARE HERE Kibera - Nairobi (Kenya) Statements Slum A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UNHABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking i ...
Silvio Valpreda impossible art project YOU ARE HERE Kibera - Nairobi (Kenya) Statements Slum A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UNHABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking i ...
W5749
22.04.2013
"Blinded Fish" - Jeane Doucas
WWW
a dance-theatre performance, based in Butoh aesthetics. The theme: the schizophrenia and the blindness we live in our day life. These photos were photographed during a rehearsal, in 2011. ...
a dance-theatre performance, based in Butoh aesthetics. The theme: the schizophrenia and the blindness we live in our day life. These photos were photographed during a rehearsal, in 2011. ...
D10828
09.09.2012
Stage-Corridor +Secuestro Colectivo + Demolition with chronometred explosive-charges + Meeting Points  - DoloresZinny & Juan Maidagan
DAAD
Stage-Corridor,1992 Theater director Palma asked us to design the stage for a theater piece. In a crossed confluence to meet at the stage four glass corridors corresponding to the 4 actors of the piece to make visible the transformation actor/characte ...
Stage-Corridor,1992 Theater director Palma asked us to design the stage for a theater piece. In a crossed confluence to meet at the stage four glass corridors corresponding to the 4 actors of the piece to make visible the transformation actor/characte ...
W5895
18.10.2013
Head over heels - Matthijs Muller
WWW
This House embodies the difficulties involved with building brick houses in the marshy grounds of the Netherlands. It's position, leaning on its roof, it's unbalance, seems the result of some dramatic event. The poles that poke into the air look like some ...
This House embodies the difficulties involved with building brick houses in the marshy grounds of the Netherlands. It's position, leaning on its roof, it's unbalance, seems the result of some dramatic event. The poles that poke into the air look like some ...
W4144
23.05.2011
Winifred Bendiner-Viani
WWW
The two images attached are part of an ongoing series of 8"X 8" mixed media collages. ...
The two images attached are part of an ongoing series of 8"X 8" mixed media collages. ...
W3606
13.05.2011
Recent Work Not Done - Buzz Spector
WWW
Date: 13 May 2011 To: The Agency of Unrealized Projects From: Buzz Spector RE: Recent Work Not Done My unrealized project is an artists’ book compilation of every artmaking idea or curatorial proposition I have had since 1972, but which ...
Date: 13 May 2011 To: The Agency of Unrealized Projects From: Buzz Spector RE: Recent Work Not Done My unrealized project is an artists’ book compilation of every artmaking idea or curatorial proposition I have had since 1972, but which ...
W4345
24.05.2011
AGENCY FOR UNREALIZED PROJECTS - Paulo Luís Almeida
WWW
AGENCY FOR UNREALIZED PROJECTS Most part of my drawings are studies for non-performed actions. I began making them as previews for the documentation process, strategies of framing the sequences of small, often unnoticed, performances. Gradually, these ...
AGENCY FOR UNREALIZED PROJECTS Most part of my drawings are studies for non-performed actions. I began making them as previews for the documentation process, strategies of framing the sequences of small, often unnoticed, performances. Gradually, these ...
W4015
22.05.2011
Helle Rask Crawford
WWW
Bronze Sculpture 80cm x 60cm x 70cm plus a base 100cm heigh. “Tormented” is a comment on the ongoing use of torture and violence, the innate aggresiveness in man. Also a tribute to the women and their children, who are often left with nothing in t ...
Bronze Sculpture 80cm x 60cm x 70cm plus a base 100cm heigh. “Tormented” is a comment on the ongoing use of torture and violence, the innate aggresiveness in man. Also a tribute to the women and their children, who are often left with nothing in t ...
W4683
26.05.2011
B/M/E: time reconfigured onsite & online 2002-2032  - Robert Lawrence
WWW
B/M/E: time reconfigured onsite & online 2002-2032 Beginning/Middle/End is a 30 year series of site-specific installations/performances/interventions, with augmenting web components. Choreographing threads of multiple strategies through physical and vir ...
B/M/E: time reconfigured onsite & online 2002-2032 Beginning/Middle/End is a 30 year series of site-specific installations/performances/interventions, with augmenting web components. Choreographing threads of multiple strategies through physical and vir ...
W4139
23.05.2011
Lizzy Cross
WWW
These floor plans attempt to illustrate my perception of a changing family dynamic. I have yet to find the right way to bring this idea to fruition. I believe it exists most perfectly as image files in my laptop's "sketchbook" file, documenting a state of ...
These floor plans attempt to illustrate my perception of a changing family dynamic. I have yet to find the right way to bring this idea to fruition. I believe it exists most perfectly as image files in my laptop's "sketchbook" file, documenting a state of ...