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

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

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

Prima del 73 - Fabio Mauri

Fax Transmission - Raymond Pettibone and Jason Rhoades

Arrangement Stroom HCBK Den Haag - Ange Leccia

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

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

Invitation Space No.1 - Tania Mouraud

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3865
19.05.2011
23rd Street Station MTA PROPOSAL 5-5-00 - Chris Twomey
WWW
The concept for this proposal evolved from my own experience riding the subway line last year when I had to travel with my infant. I would board the train at rush hour with her sleeping snugly positioned in my body. Then, I noticed the harried and tired ...
The concept for this proposal evolved from my own experience riding the subway line last year when I had to travel with my infant. I would board the train at rush hour with her sleeping snugly positioned in my body. Then, I noticed the harried and tired ...
W3743
18.05.2011
Rave Joy Mobile - Kai-Oi Jay Yung
WWW
A sound proofed enclosed box, mirrored on outside, pitch-black interior lit by 100 flashing neon LEDS, fitted with strawberry smoke nebuliser, fan and ventilation shaft to sit in the gallery. To be installed with state of the art sound system, digitally l ...
A sound proofed enclosed box, mirrored on outside, pitch-black interior lit by 100 flashing neon LEDS, fitted with strawberry smoke nebuliser, fan and ventilation shaft to sit in the gallery. To be installed with state of the art sound system, digitally l ...
W3516
11.05.2011
Hugo Houayek
WWW
To build bridges supporting pillars are needed. To construct pillars art is necessary. Build permanent bridges with ephemeral colored pillars. ...
To build bridges supporting pillars are needed. To construct pillars art is necessary. Build permanent bridges with ephemeral colored pillars. ...
W4255
24.05.2011
BLOCHER SYLVIE
WWW
Project prizewinner of the competition of the RATP (PARIS PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM / Metro) in bets for the year 2000. (The competition was in 1998) The project consisted of an installation in the station « Concorde » Line1 in Paris. Conditions of ...
Project prizewinner of the competition of the RATP (PARIS PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM / Metro) in bets for the year 2000. (The competition was in 1998) The project consisted of an installation in the station « Concorde » Line1 in Paris. Conditions of ...
W4858
08.08.2012
Interacting Products - Dan Riley
WWW
Interacting Products Interacting Products is an art installation consisting of two products that interact with eachother and an optional third party interacting with one of the products. The first product is a 909 drum machine which features a clap sou ...
Interacting Products Interacting Products is an art installation consisting of two products that interact with eachother and an optional third party interacting with one of the products. The first product is a 909 drum machine which features a clap sou ...
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 ...
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 ...
W4314
24.05.2011
Unfinished Projects - Catarina Alexandra Costa Cubelo Morais
WWW
Unfinished Projects This project is about sound and comunication It is also about the nervous consequences that came with the repetition of the same type of sound, which at first cause a strangeness and annoyance, and then the questioning of the phen ...
Unfinished Projects This project is about sound and comunication It is also about the nervous consequences that came with the repetition of the same type of sound, which at first cause a strangeness and annoyance, and then the questioning of the phen ...
W10370
17.04.2014
Redshift - Gabriel Rico
WWW
The proposal entitled "REDSHIFT" is a in situ-installation specific designed to mind all of the space of 'The Soap Factory' (12,000 sq feet) this installation course will function as a space within in another space, a place that feels like a corpuscular-o ...
The proposal entitled "REDSHIFT" is a in situ-installation specific designed to mind all of the space of 'The Soap Factory' (12,000 sq feet) this installation course will function as a space within in another space, a place that feels like a corpuscular-o ...
W3667
15.05.2011
Breathing (1988) - Joanna Frueh
WWW
This piece is an unpresented performance. Breathing (1988) A Proposal for a Performance by Joanna Frueh and Russell Dudley Written by Joanna Frueh A restaurant table for two, with one chair on either side, sits center stage. A vase holding a large ...
This piece is an unpresented performance. Breathing (1988) A Proposal for a Performance by Joanna Frueh and Russell Dudley Written by Joanna Frueh A restaurant table for two, with one chair on either side, sits center stage. A vase holding a large ...
W4286
24.05.2011
Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice  - Lonnie Holley
WWW
Lonnie Holley From Earth the Mother to the Black Mother and Back Again Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice Presented by the American Folk Art Museum at Fondaco dei Tedeschi, June 2011 Artist State ...
Lonnie Holley From Earth the Mother to the Black Mother and Back Again Proposal for Vision and Vernacular Eight African American Artists in Venice Presented by the American Folk Art Museum at Fondaco dei Tedeschi, June 2011 Artist State ...
W4419
25.05.2011
Things we never did  - beate rathmayr
WWW
Things we never did An archiv of unrealized ideas Idea / concept: Beate Rathmayr In december 2010 an archive at the artist association MAERZ showed things artists never did. For some weeks written, spoken and drafted fragments showed unfulfilled and u ...
Things we never did An archiv of unrealized ideas Idea / concept: Beate Rathmayr In december 2010 an archive at the artist association MAERZ showed things artists never did. For some weeks written, spoken and drafted fragments showed unfulfilled and u ...
W5095
12.09.2012
(un)realized words - Kathryn Hummel
WWW
(un)realized words Kathryn Hummel (un)realized words is an installation combining photographs and paper objects (used and new) to form an interactive work out of a variety of incomplete/in-progress elements. I do not recall at what age I first began ...
(un)realized words Kathryn Hummel (un)realized words is an installation combining photographs and paper objects (used and new) to form an interactive work out of a variety of incomplete/in-progress elements. I do not recall at what age I first began ...
W4159
23.05.2011
Asymmetric Flight - andreas kopp
WWW
Asymmetric Flight Concept for a mobilé in public space. With attached documents I would like to introduce a concept (from 2009) which I so far have not been able to realize. ...
Asymmetric Flight Concept for a mobilé in public space. With attached documents I would like to introduce a concept (from 2009) which I so far have not been able to realize. ...
W4823
07.08.2012
Outstretched Arms - Todd Williamson
WWW
"Outstretched Arms" is a project that was originally conceived in 2009 for a university show. It features a 4ft diameter hanging painting that slowly rotates with the air currents. It also features a 10 minute commissioned work of music that supports ...
"Outstretched Arms" is a project that was originally conceived in 2009 for a university show. It features a 4ft diameter hanging painting that slowly rotates with the air currents. It also features a 10 minute commissioned work of music that supports ...
W5313
17.10.2012
“The Account” 2011 - Georgina Criddle
WWW
“The Account” 2011, is a detailed sketch and testimony of an unrealised installation project in a gas station in Berlin. The two pieces attempt to suspend the work in a potential space between fiction and reality. ...
“The Account” 2011, is a detailed sketch and testimony of an unrealised installation project in a gas station in Berlin. The two pieces attempt to suspend the work in a potential space between fiction and reality. ...
W5353
19.10.2012
THE STORY OF THE WRONG PRAYER BOOK - Vera Gutkina
WWW
THE STORY OF THE WRONG PRAYER BOOK (frescoes at the Chirch of Holy Mary) Some twenty km north of Jerusalem a picturesque Arab town nestles in between the green Judea hills. It is called Abu Gosh after its founders the Abugosh family. They were Muslim. ...
THE STORY OF THE WRONG PRAYER BOOK (frescoes at the Chirch of Holy Mary) Some twenty km north of Jerusalem a picturesque Arab town nestles in between the green Judea hills. It is called Abu Gosh after its founders the Abugosh family. They were Muslim. ...
W5382
19.10.2012
Marina Stavrou
WWW
By Marina Stavrou The ‘Unrealized project’ I am foreshadowing made its first ‘appearance’ first in 2011. The work tried to make visible the experience of keeping a secret. This secret took the form of bread for the shooting of a 16mm and ...
By Marina Stavrou The ‘Unrealized project’ I am foreshadowing made its first ‘appearance’ first in 2011. The work tried to make visible the experience of keeping a secret. This secret took the form of bread for the shooting of a 16mm and ...
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 ...
W3843
19.05.2011
Pamela Harris
WWW
"When I was at art school, everyone else would make art and find the best parts and then try to cover up everything else so that was all you saw. I was fascinated by the part that didn't appear to be working and I'd keep working on that part until it took ...
"When I was at art school, everyone else would make art and find the best parts and then try to cover up everything else so that was all you saw. I was fascinated by the part that didn't appear to be working and I'd keep working on that part until it took ...
W4594
25.05.2011
Monastic garden in an edge space of a retail park, London, UK - Peter Ainsworth
WWW
Monastic garden in an edge space of a retail park, London, UK Space that is on the peripheries of major roads and towns has a distinctly singular usage: to consume. Out of town shopping malls, retail parks have an inexplicable draw, yet they also have ...
Monastic garden in an edge space of a retail park, London, UK Space that is on the peripheries of major roads and towns has a distinctly singular usage: to consume. Out of town shopping malls, retail parks have an inexplicable draw, yet they also have ...
W3873
19.05.2011
CHINATOWN RUN - Derek Michael Besant
WWW
Project: CHINATOWN RUN Client: City of Calgary Development Dept. / Canada Date: 2010 Retrofit of elements into existing Centre Street Chinatown District of Calgary Alberta Canada. The idea was to enhance the 3 blocks along Centre Street with t ...
Project: CHINATOWN RUN Client: City of Calgary Development Dept. / Canada Date: 2010 Retrofit of elements into existing Centre Street Chinatown District of Calgary Alberta Canada. The idea was to enhance the 3 blocks along Centre Street with t ...
W5178
27.09.2012
The Blue Night - Monika Goetz
WWW
Titel: The Blue Night Geplanter Standort: Westpark, München Jahr: 2011 Die Blaue Stunde ist ein poetischer Begriff für die Zeit der Dämmerung zwischen Sonnenuntergang und nächtlicher Dunkelheit, sowie für die Zeit kurz vor dem Sonnenaufgang. Rei ...
Titel: The Blue Night Geplanter Standort: Westpark, München Jahr: 2011 Die Blaue Stunde ist ein poetischer Begriff für die Zeit der Dämmerung zwischen Sonnenuntergang und nächtlicher Dunkelheit, sowie für die Zeit kurz vor dem Sonnenaufgang. Rei ...
W4546
25.05.2011
IRON CLOUD - Rick Shaefer
WWW
IRON CLOUD by Rick Shaefer ...
IRON CLOUD by Rick Shaefer ...
W4919
16.08.2012
Random Conservatorio - Riccardo Benassi
WWW
Random Conservatorio An old public swimming pool, disused since many years, will re-open today. Instead of being refill with water, the pool is pack with small and colorful toy keyboards. Any splash is a tune, any children a musician. Random Conse ...
Random Conservatorio An old public swimming pool, disused since many years, will re-open today. Instead of being refill with water, the pool is pack with small and colorful toy keyboards. Any splash is a tune, any children a musician. Random Conse ...
W5226
08.10.2012
ANF (Absolutely No Fucking) - ANF - Stephen Spurrier and Alexandra Lawson
WWW
ANF (Absolutely No Fucking) is an evolving story written collaboratively by Alexandra Lawson and Stephen Spurrier, describing a year in the life of Spurrier (in the 60's) which explores the concept of intimacy as a phenomenon. ANF (Absolutely No Fuckin ...
ANF (Absolutely No Fucking) is an evolving story written collaboratively by Alexandra Lawson and Stephen Spurrier, describing a year in the life of Spurrier (in the 60's) which explores the concept of intimacy as a phenomenon. ANF (Absolutely No Fuckin ...