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.

Placid Earth: A Project for the Meeting of Millennia - Cai Guo Quiang

Uncompleted 1966 - and on  - John Armleder

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel

"400" - Manfred Pernice

Entwurf für einen erneuerten Malkasten 1992 - 1994 - Ulrike Holthöfer

AUSSICHTSTURM, HOLZHAUS (WOHNHAUS), SCHWIMMBECKEN, FREIE FAHRT - Maria Eichhorn

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3498
11.05.2011
John Ryan
WWW
A meek critique of ambiguous language used in art criticism and statements, I created a list of advice for artists, composed of cut outs from horoscopes. ...
A meek critique of ambiguous language used in art criticism and statements, I created a list of advice for artists, composed of cut outs from horoscopes. ...
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 ...
W3616
13.05.2011
Fountion of Steam - Scott Hillman
WWW
This was a project i designed for a sculpture park, as a water element of such.. The owner didn't want a water feature and rejected it. As such it was never implimented though i made an estimate for around 2000.00 to build. The idea of it quite simply ...
This was a project i designed for a sculpture park, as a water element of such.. The owner didn't want a water feature and rejected it. As such it was never implimented though i made an estimate for around 2000.00 to build. The idea of it quite simply ...
W4263
24.05.2011
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. - Elpida Karaba
WWW
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized and published the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. The project ...
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized and published the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. The project ...
W4281
24.05.2011
veronique bellavista
WWW
To whom it may concern: Sorry to send this in French, for lack of time since we are the 24th of May, and I had knowledge of your offer only today. I also hope this material will get some protection, since it is indeed a project that has not been ...
To whom it may concern: Sorry to send this in French, for lack of time since we are the 24th of May, and I had knowledge of your offer only today. I also hope this material will get some protection, since it is indeed a project that has not been ...
W4137
23.05.2011
Ann McCoy
WWW
THE PFAUENINSEL PROJECT The Transformation of the King and the Alchemist of Pfaueninsel The alchemists were not simply chemists; they developed a symbolic language to describe psychological transformation in a time before psychoanalysis. ...
THE PFAUENINSEL PROJECT The Transformation of the King and the Alchemist of Pfaueninsel The alchemists were not simply chemists; they developed a symbolic language to describe psychological transformation in a time before psychoanalysis. ...
W3856
19.05.2011
THE SISTER COMPLEX - Jacob Stewart-Halevy
WWW
The Sister Complex is a film script written for captive audiences on Virgin America flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The forty minute length of the film is meant to correspond to the amount of time a traveler would have to watch their personal s ...
The Sister Complex is a film script written for captive audiences on Virgin America flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The forty minute length of the film is meant to correspond to the amount of time a traveler would have to watch their personal s ...
W4966
22.08.2012
Bed-line - Efi Spyrou
WWW
Efi’s video “bed-line” invites us to mentally traverse a sterile, claustrophobic environment that includes more than one single spatial dimension in its space and more than one single temporal dimension in time. It emanates the energy of the absent, ...
Efi’s video “bed-line” invites us to mentally traverse a sterile, claustrophobic environment that includes more than one single spatial dimension in its space and more than one single temporal dimension in time. It emanates the energy of the absent, ...
W4374
25.05.2011
Proposal for culture (an interactive installation)  - Thessia Machado
WWW
Proposal for culture (an interactive installation) I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which organisms can perceive their environment and adapt to it — capturing and responding to either images, air vibration, or smells, sounds, flavors, ...
Proposal for culture (an interactive installation) I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which organisms can perceive their environment and adapt to it — capturing and responding to either images, air vibration, or smells, sounds, flavors, ...
D10827
09.09.2012
Stajuda - Katarzyna Kozyra
DAAD
When my professor from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, who was a very important person for me, was dying in the same hospital where my father died I got the idea to sit naked on a naked dead body and play on a harpsichord. Stajuda, that was his name, ...
When my professor from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, who was a very important person for me, was dying in the same hospital where my father died I got the idea to sit naked on a naked dead body and play on a harpsichord. Stajuda, that was his name, ...
W4461
25.05.2011
Camoufoliaged - Chrysanne Stathacos
WWW
Camoufoliaged In ecology, organisms avoid observation or detection by other organisms though camouflage, transparency, or mimicry. In the project Camoufoliaged, trees, and bushes near or within a museum setting are covered in various degrees of prin ...
Camoufoliaged In ecology, organisms avoid observation or detection by other organisms though camouflage, transparency, or mimicry. In the project Camoufoliaged, trees, and bushes near or within a museum setting are covered in various degrees of prin ...
W10495
01.05.2014
Remembering Imagination - Esther Shalev-Gerz
WWW
Gävle, Sweden, 2003 In 2002 Esther Shalev-Gerz was invited to realize a project in Gävle, Sweden. “What is the portrait of a city? Is it the city today or is it both what it is today and what it could have been? When I first visited Gavle I w ...
Gävle, Sweden, 2003 In 2002 Esther Shalev-Gerz was invited to realize a project in Gävle, Sweden. “What is the portrait of a city? Is it the city today or is it both what it is today and what it could have been? When I first visited Gavle I w ...
W5476
21.10.2012
Roberto Delgado
WWW
Berliner Künstlerprogramm/DAAD 19 Oct 2012 This is a Project Description for the unrealized Los Angeles Police Department Hollenbeck Station Public Art Project RFP. My proposal was for a number of 3’ x 7’ ceramic tile panels mounted on the CMU ...
Berliner Künstlerprogramm/DAAD 19 Oct 2012 This is a Project Description for the unrealized Los Angeles Police Department Hollenbeck Station Public Art Project RFP. My proposal was for a number of 3’ x 7’ ceramic tile panels mounted on the CMU ...
W4775
31.05.2011
El fracaso de Xochiquetzal - ana gallardo
WWW
El fracaso de Xochiquetzal Ensayo reflexionar sobre la vejez y su condición ante la cercanía de la muerte en el mundo contemporáneo. En nuestra cultura hay una imagen desfavorable del envejecimiento, esta etapa despierta sentimientos encontrados, ...
El fracaso de Xochiquetzal Ensayo reflexionar sobre la vejez y su condición ante la cercanía de la muerte en el mundo contemporáneo. En nuestra cultura hay una imagen desfavorable del envejecimiento, esta etapa despierta sentimientos encontrados, ...
W3632
14.05.2011
(model for) REMOTE CONTROLLED STARS or HOW TO CHANGE YOUR DESTINY - Mary Sherman
WWW
Once someone came up to the oh-so dandy J. McNeil Whistler and exclaimed that they were both from Lowell and just a year apart – he was 68; Whistler, 67. To which Whistler replied - for all to hear, of course - “Very charming! And so you are 68 and we ...
Once someone came up to the oh-so dandy J. McNeil Whistler and exclaimed that they were both from Lowell and just a year apart – he was 68; Whistler, 67. To which Whistler replied - for all to hear, of course - “Very charming! And so you are 68 and we ...
W5129
19.09.2012
SFAI Project Proposal - Leo Morrissey
WWW
SFAI Project Proposal. (2012) The project will entail spending one day walking throughout various neighborhoods in San Francisco. Through out the day I will digitally document various manhole covers, utility covers, water meter covers, etc…. ...
SFAI Project Proposal. (2012) The project will entail spending one day walking throughout various neighborhoods in San Francisco. Through out the day I will digitally document various manhole covers, utility covers, water meter covers, etc…. ...
W3849
19.05.2011
The Trace of A Production Site - YU-HANG HUANG
WWW
is a performance based installation, which deals with memory, moving and production. The installation contains my hand-made copies of everyday objects from water-resistant polyethylene foam. ...
is a performance based installation, which deals with memory, moving and production. The installation contains my hand-made copies of everyday objects from water-resistant polyethylene foam. ...
W5064
04.09.2012
SolarCircuit RAYsponse  - c a l c (omi - Thomas Scheiderbauer)
WWW
SolarCircuit RAYsponse is a project with the aim to let the façade of an institution (= a meaning charged façade) express itself in the public environment. its two architectonic/technical elements consist of a solar panel and a proportional related ima ...
SolarCircuit RAYsponse is a project with the aim to let the façade of an institution (= a meaning charged façade) express itself in the public environment. its two architectonic/technical elements consist of a solar panel and a proportional related ima ...
W4676
26.05.2011
“WATER MOCCASIN SKIN” - Melanie Jamison
WWW
“WATER MOCCASIN SKIN” 2010 MELANIE JAMISON For the School of Latitudes program at Houston-based non-profit space labotanica, the artists in residence were asked to write a personal manifesto for growth. During this assignment, I came across a run-o ...
“WATER MOCCASIN SKIN” 2010 MELANIE JAMISON For the School of Latitudes program at Houston-based non-profit space labotanica, the artists in residence were asked to write a personal manifesto for growth. During this assignment, I came across a run-o ...
W5469
21.10.2012
Mimicry - DAMIAN IORDANOV
WWW
Temporary Public Sculpture: Park Avenue Malls The Fund for Park Avenue and The City of New York’s Department of Parks and Recreation, Public Art Program The Park Avenue malls, on New York City’s upper eastside Mimicry unrealized project intend ...
Temporary Public Sculpture: Park Avenue Malls The Fund for Park Avenue and The City of New York’s Department of Parks and Recreation, Public Art Program The Park Avenue malls, on New York City’s upper eastside Mimicry unrealized project intend ...
U9711
01.01.1989
2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin
Unbuilt Roads
A competition won in 1989 Tower One: was proposed to sit in a roundabout next to the Chicago river .. 65' (feet) in height, the base an octagonal cast iron construction stands on a slightly mounded cast rubber base ... eight triangular beams thrust upw ...
A competition won in 1989 Tower One: was proposed to sit in a roundabout next to the Chicago river .. 65' (feet) in height, the base an octagonal cast iron construction stands on a slightly mounded cast rubber base ... eight triangular beams thrust upw ...
W3820
19.05.2011
ArtPOTLATCH - Exhibition as Test Lab/ Art as Gift - Rebecca Keller
WWW
POTLATCH A potlatch is a tradition carried on by many NW coast Indian tribes. The chief would celebrate a significant event (birth, marriage) by hosting a Potlatch. A huge feast would be provided, and gifts such as blankets, etc. would be given to the ...
POTLATCH A potlatch is a tradition carried on by many NW coast Indian tribes. The chief would celebrate a significant event (birth, marriage) by hosting a Potlatch. A huge feast would be provided, and gifts such as blankets, etc. would be given to the ...
U9903
01.01.1994
Art and Ourselves: A Proposal for the city of Nordhorn - Allen Rupperssberg
Unbuilt Roads
see my catalog from the Magazine. The complete text is there. (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Political Previous Publications (?) Catalog from where art Magazine 1996 Exisiting Documents: to be requested from No ...
see my catalog from the Magazine. The complete text is there. (eventually reasons why the work has not been realised) Political Previous Publications (?) Catalog from where art Magazine 1996 Exisiting Documents: to be requested from No ...
W4968
22.08.2012
50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes - Greg Sholette
WWW
50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes See PDF ...
50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes See PDF ...
W5181
29.09.2012
Binary Kruno - Kruno Jost
WWW
COMPUTER GENERATED ARTISTS /// under construction - working name BinaryKruno WHAT: Binary Kruno (BK) is a critique of the system of artistic production in modern times. The project aims to discover through research whether approaches to funding artistic ...
COMPUTER GENERATED ARTISTS /// under construction - working name BinaryKruno WHAT: Binary Kruno (BK) is a critique of the system of artistic production in modern times. The project aims to discover through research whether approaches to funding artistic ...
U9497
07.04.1997
Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman
Unbuilt Roads
commissioned by liberal daily broadsheet newspaper ironically suggesting the most unsuitable artists possible to produce the most unsuitable public sculpture never to be realized: ha ha ha, very funny we suggest one of the following: project 'Hawki ...
commissioned by liberal daily broadsheet newspaper ironically suggesting the most unsuitable artists possible to produce the most unsuitable public sculpture never to be realized: ha ha ha, very funny we suggest one of the following: project 'Hawki ...