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.

Visual Poem: Cap I Cua - Joan Brossa

The Rosetta Garden - Gary Simmons

Tulips for Amsterdam - Isa Genzken

Projekt für die Landschaft des Mont-de-Sene (Burgund) im Rahmen eines öffentlichen Auftrags des französischen Kultusministeriums - Markus Raetz

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero

The World Record - General Idea

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

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

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4711
26.05.2011
The Intellectual Refuge(e) Camp – 21 tents for the 21st Century - Patrick Meagher & WORK.ac
WWW
Dear M. Buergel, Please find enclosed our proposal ‘The Intellectual Refuge(e) Camp – 21 tents for the 21st Century’, which your Leitmotifs for Documenta 12 inspired. Feeling immediately akin to your text, the Leitmotifs resonated with idea ...
Dear M. Buergel, Please find enclosed our proposal ‘The Intellectual Refuge(e) Camp – 21 tents for the 21st Century’, which your Leitmotifs for Documenta 12 inspired. Feeling immediately akin to your text, the Leitmotifs resonated with idea ...
W5472
21.10.2012
Ismael Duá
WWW
Berlin, October 7th 2012 Dear publishers, from my numerous unrealised ideas, I uphold this one as the dearest, for I feel that we need it most these days: a paradigm shift across the arts, the sciences and politics which will allow to surpass des ...
Berlin, October 7th 2012 Dear publishers, from my numerous unrealised ideas, I uphold this one as the dearest, for I feel that we need it most these days: a paradigm shift across the arts, the sciences and politics which will allow to surpass des ...
W3815
19.05.2011
Bury Me Like This - T. Kelly Mason
WWW
Bury Me Like This A project proposed in 2007 and distributed in the form of a public invitation sent from Adamski, Berlin. The work is to to be executed as soon as possible. The work proposes that, upon the occasion of my death, my clothed body sha ...
Bury Me Like This A project proposed in 2007 and distributed in the form of a public invitation sent from Adamski, Berlin. The work is to to be executed as soon as possible. The work proposes that, upon the occasion of my death, my clothed body sha ...
U9567
01.01.1995
Museum - Katharina Fritsch
Unbuilt Roads
Beschreibung des Modells bitte dem Katalog "Katharina Fritsch, Museum, Biennale Venedig 1995" entnehmen. (Erster Abschnitt: Modell 1:10) Der Katalog ist bei Cantz in Stuttgart gedruckt. Previous Publications (?) Katalog der Biennale Venedig 1995 (s ...
Beschreibung des Modells bitte dem Katalog "Katharina Fritsch, Museum, Biennale Venedig 1995" entnehmen. (Erster Abschnitt: Modell 1:10) Der Katalog ist bei Cantz in Stuttgart gedruckt. Previous Publications (?) Katalog der Biennale Venedig 1995 (s ...
W4826
07.08.2012
Fake It ‘Til You Make It - Sean Montgomery and Eric Simon
WWW
Sean Montgomery and Eric Simon - Fake It ‘Til You Make It Artist Biographies Omark van Pechstein Though van Pechstein has a genius-level intellect, an excellent memory and a profound gift for sculpture, for most of his life he worked as a janitor a ...
Sean Montgomery and Eric Simon - Fake It ‘Til You Make It Artist Biographies Omark van Pechstein Though van Pechstein has a genius-level intellect, an excellent memory and a profound gift for sculpture, for most of his life he worked as a janitor a ...
W3813
19.05.2011
Bruce Gray
WWW
This is a wood sphere that I drilled into and mounted lots of high powered rare earth magnets. They are all facing the magnetic polarity in the same direction. There was also a large half sphere that I attached magnets with the polarity opposing the sph ...
This is a wood sphere that I drilled into and mounted lots of high powered rare earth magnets. They are all facing the magnetic polarity in the same direction. There was also a large half sphere that I attached magnets with the polarity opposing the sph ...
W3640
14.05.2011
Proposal for a cooperation between a university and myself to solar light up a village in Lebanon.  - Roula Sorour
WWW
I never received any reply to my mail and therefore the project is in hybernation mode for now. Dear Professors, I read about the 2 jordanian bedouin illiterate women who were sent to India for 6 month to train as Solar engineers . Something similar ...
I never received any reply to my mail and therefore the project is in hybernation mode for now. Dear Professors, I read about the 2 jordanian bedouin illiterate women who were sent to India for 6 month to train as Solar engineers . Something similar ...
W4960
20.08.2012
Exit - Darko Aleksovski
WWW
Darko Aleksovski Name of the project: EXIT participatory and research art project EXIT is a series of interventions in open, public space that can be anywhere except the space of organized walking (main streets, boulevards, city squares etc). The ...
Darko Aleksovski Name of the project: EXIT participatory and research art project EXIT is a series of interventions in open, public space that can be anywhere except the space of organized walking (main streets, boulevards, city squares etc). The ...
W4478
25.05.2011
Carlos Aranda Márquez
WWW
What does it mean Estados Unidos Mexicanos? I always wanted to form a drawing of Oaxaca, the state where I was born,with members of the Red Soviet Army singing Canción Mixteca, a song I assumed it was composed by Ricardo Flores Magón, while in prison, t ...
What does it mean Estados Unidos Mexicanos? I always wanted to form a drawing of Oaxaca, the state where I was born,with members of the Red Soviet Army singing Canción Mixteca, a song I assumed it was composed by Ricardo Flores Magón, while in prison, t ...
W3970
21.05.2011
SUNNY - Fang Di
WWW
SUNNY | Video, Installation | 1:44 Project Introduction: Sunny, one of my friends, always acts weirdly. I call this Sunny Phenomenon. And this phenomenon can be widely seen nowadays. For example, due to heavy working pressure, people are forced to par ...
SUNNY | Video, Installation | 1:44 Project Introduction: Sunny, one of my friends, always acts weirdly. I call this Sunny Phenomenon. And this phenomenon can be widely seen nowadays. For example, due to heavy working pressure, people are forced to par ...
W4536
25.05.2011
CHARM OF SOUND - Petri Kuljuntausta
WWW
PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA: CHARM OF SOUND (1997) Petri Kuljuntausta's Charm of Sound (1997) is a text-based environmental composition in three parts, which is composed for outer space environment. In 1997 Cassini-Huygens spacecraft (Titan-IVB/Centaur) was laun ...
PETRI KULJUNTAUSTA: CHARM OF SOUND (1997) Petri Kuljuntausta's Charm of Sound (1997) is a text-based environmental composition in three parts, which is composed for outer space environment. In 1997 Cassini-Huygens spacecraft (Titan-IVB/Centaur) was laun ...
W3759
18.05.2011
MAPPING OBSCUR A (MEMORY AND PLACE) - Yamini Nayar
WWW
Mapping Obscura - a Proposal for a Memorial to Partition Mapping obscura is a mobile memorial, a camera obscura that travels through landscape and into communities. Visitors are invited to enter the camera to compose photograms, arranging objects of pe ...
Mapping Obscura - a Proposal for a Memorial to Partition Mapping obscura is a mobile memorial, a camera obscura that travels through landscape and into communities. Visitors are invited to enter the camera to compose photograms, arranging objects of pe ...
W4149
23.05.2011
Coming up for Air 2001  - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Coming up for Air 2001 Coming up for Air was a proposal for a temporary public art project based on the production of an imposing landmark in the reservoir of Chasewater Country Park, Staffordshire. The project aimed to promote debate on the relations ...
Coming up for Air 2001 Coming up for Air was a proposal for a temporary public art project based on the production of an imposing landmark in the reservoir of Chasewater Country Park, Staffordshire. The project aimed to promote debate on the relations ...
W4211
24.05.2011
Elpida Karaba
WWW
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. ...
Curating Un-realized. 9+1 Un-Realized Projects Revisited. Elpida Karaba, independent curator, theorist, Athens, Greece. In 2005 I have organized the curatorial/publication project, Curating Issues, 9+1 Un-Realized Projects. ...
W3493
11.05.2011
SEX CHAT KARAOKE - Sally-Ann Blaise
WWW
SEX CHAT KARAOKE A Selection of TEXT collected by artist through late night sex chat rooms is printed in duplicate and arranged at the corner of a stage, upon which a small FUNK BAND is playing a GROOVE. audience participate by selecting text in tandem ...
SEX CHAT KARAOKE A Selection of TEXT collected by artist through late night sex chat rooms is printed in duplicate and arranged at the corner of a stage, upon which a small FUNK BAND is playing a GROOVE. audience participate by selecting text in tandem ...
W3994
21.05.2011
Industry of the Ordinary
WWW
Industry of the Ordinary wish to create a portrait of Barack Obama, at this monumental time, by casting his likeness in butter and taking him home to the State Fair in Springfield, Illinois, the town where his political career was born. The Harvest ...
Industry of the Ordinary wish to create a portrait of Barack Obama, at this monumental time, by casting his likeness in butter and taking him home to the State Fair in Springfield, Illinois, the town where his political career was born. The Harvest ...
W5435
20.10.2012
ART FOR THE CITY - Matej Metlikovič
WWW
Unrealised projects ART FOR THE CITY, 2008 I'm sending you two photos of the unrealised projects created in 2008 on the theme »Art for the city«. The Society of Ljubljana's visual artists invited artists of Ljubljana to contribute ideas how to make ...
Unrealised projects ART FOR THE CITY, 2008 I'm sending you two photos of the unrealised projects created in 2008 on the theme »Art for the city«. The Society of Ljubljana's visual artists invited artists of Ljubljana to contribute ideas how to make ...
W4715
26.05.2011
Annan Shehadi
WWW
This project is a way of mapping a home I have never been to from the outside. It is about the outside world not recognizing my identity as a Palestinian, or my people's right to their homeland. In that sense, it is unrealized. 31°53’20.24”N, 35° ...
This project is a way of mapping a home I have never been to from the outside. It is about the outside world not recognizing my identity as a Palestinian, or my people's right to their homeland. In that sense, it is unrealized. 31°53’20.24”N, 35° ...
W4450
25.05.2011
Crackpot Ideas. - Jasmine Lockhart
WWW
Crackpot Ideas. Inspired by the ability of conspiracy theorists to build their conviction based on the accumulation of hit and miss occurrence. And also by a humoured cynicism directed at the trend of rubbish as found object art. I started collecting p ...
Crackpot Ideas. Inspired by the ability of conspiracy theorists to build their conviction based on the accumulation of hit and miss occurrence. And also by a humoured cynicism directed at the trend of rubbish as found object art. I started collecting p ...
W4627
25.05.2011
REMEMBERING HUMANITY - laura j padgett
WWW
REMEMBERING HUMANITY: Reflections on the Work of Bruno Taut This proposal is a visual / textual analysis of an attitude: An attitude of commitment to and belief in mankind, as a result of and despite political, social and economic conditions. BACKGROUND B ...
REMEMBERING HUMANITY: Reflections on the Work of Bruno Taut This proposal is a visual / textual analysis of an attitude: An attitude of commitment to and belief in mankind, as a result of and despite political, social and economic conditions. BACKGROUND B ...
W4325
24.05.2011
Valery Koroshilov
WWW
A proposal for a mural "Artist's Studio" in a corporate environment interior, London 2010 ...
A proposal for a mural "Artist's Studio" in a corporate environment interior, London 2010 ...
W10410
07.04.2014
Reverse Lecture Series - VIIIC KEER OSSTTAPPPH
WWW
During the reverse lecture series, there will be one audience member as everyone else simultaneously delivers a speech from behind a lectern. ...
During the reverse lecture series, there will be one audience member as everyone else simultaneously delivers a speech from behind a lectern. ...
W4394
25.05.2011
MINILAND MANIFESTO  - Stephen Hobbs
WWW
MINILAND MANIFESTO Ongoing documentation of a number of our coastal cities’ incomplete highway networks has prompted a reading of the space between these structures. Aside from the parking lots and spectacular film settings they provide, they are pe ...
MINILAND MANIFESTO Ongoing documentation of a number of our coastal cities’ incomplete highway networks has prompted a reading of the space between these structures. Aside from the parking lots and spectacular film settings they provide, they are pe ...
W5411
20.10.2012
Jessica Miller
WWW
I have created a proposal outlining a beautification project beginning in the city of Atlanta. Participants in the agenda sign up to receive locations of seed bomb caches. They can then distribute the seed bombs and log the locations of the bombing.... ...
I have created a proposal outlining a beautification project beginning in the city of Atlanta. Participants in the agenda sign up to receive locations of seed bomb caches. They can then distribute the seed bombs and log the locations of the bombing.... ...
W3992
21.05.2011
Ranjit Sidhu
WWW
In a fierce contest in 1961, I was commissioned to create drawings based on “Devotion to Duty”, “Dignity of Labour” and, “Work is Worship” – the themes floated by 505 Command Workshop, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India for eight large wall ...
In a fierce contest in 1961, I was commissioned to create drawings based on “Devotion to Duty”, “Dignity of Labour” and, “Work is Worship” – the themes floated by 505 Command Workshop, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India for eight large wall ...
W3581
13.05.2011
Nihal Yesil
WWW
Passage, 2008 Model for a architectural installation Construction: Simple reductive construction Walls: Black heavy rubber sheets suspended from simple linked frames Dimensions: Circa 280cm height x 450cm wide x 800cm + length variable depending on ...
Passage, 2008 Model for a architectural installation Construction: Simple reductive construction Walls: Black heavy rubber sheets suspended from simple linked frames Dimensions: Circa 280cm height x 450cm wide x 800cm + length variable depending on ...