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.

MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

The Rosetta Garden - Gary Simmons

Cruzeiro Do Sul, (Southern Cross) (Crucero del Sur) 1969-70* - Cildo Meireles

Double Exposure 1995-6  - Dan Graham

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

To Two Too; Hypothetical Monument for a Natural Disaster - Jeffrey Wisniewski

Right-of-Privacy Release - Tony Oursler

The World Record - General Idea

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3556
12.05.2011
Breakdown: A Prototypical Monument to the Open Road - John Landewe
WWW
Proposal John Landewe 152 Douglass St. Brooklyn, NY 917.676.950 Breakdown: A Prototypical Monument to the Open Road Breakdown is a self-contained, nomadic monument dedicated to industrial-strength mobility and the acceleration of the postmodern c ...
Proposal John Landewe 152 Douglass St. Brooklyn, NY 917.676.950 Breakdown: A Prototypical Monument to the Open Road Breakdown is a self-contained, nomadic monument dedicated to industrial-strength mobility and the acceleration of the postmodern c ...
W3824
19.05.2011
MARK PRIME
WWW
These installations are part of an ongoing series experimenting with light in 3 dimensional spaces. They are created using a high power laser, refracted in the space using mirrors. The effect is like drawing with pure light: intense, pure, random an ...
These installations are part of an ongoing series experimenting with light in 3 dimensional spaces. They are created using a high power laser, refracted in the space using mirrors. The effect is like drawing with pure light: intense, pure, random an ...
W4340
24.05.2011
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? - Cristina Cambiganu
WWW
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? The idea, which has been in my drawer of dreams for over 10 years, intend to insert a graft on the saxophone. Precisely, the project intended to r ...
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? The idea, which has been in my drawer of dreams for over 10 years, intend to insert a graft on the saxophone. Precisely, the project intended to r ...
W5320
18.10.2012
Strike Nº0 - Thiago Parizi
WWW
05.2010 The project entitled “Strike Nº0” is composed of a group of helium balloons attached to the handle of a shovel, floating it above the ground. Suspending it until the object is brought again to the floor given the slight leaking of the heli ...
05.2010 The project entitled “Strike Nº0” is composed of a group of helium balloons attached to the handle of a shovel, floating it above the ground. Suspending it until the object is brought again to the floor given the slight leaking of the heli ...
W4119
23.05.2011
TIME:PIECE - LEWIS KOCH
WWW
TIME:PIECE, A PUBLIC ARTWORK BY LEWIS KOCH, to hang on the front facade of the museum building, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The banner's design, comprised of line drawing and text, presents an interpretation of the idea of time defined from ...
TIME:PIECE, A PUBLIC ARTWORK BY LEWIS KOCH, to hang on the front facade of the museum building, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The banner's design, comprised of line drawing and text, presents an interpretation of the idea of time defined from ...
W3660
15.05.2011
Hannah Ross
WWW
Inspired by Janet Cardiff, creating a room for observation that requires community participation. It will be a life sized entry hallway, with a side table, telephone, and answering machine. I will have a public campaign of distributing the phone number wi ...
Inspired by Janet Cardiff, creating a room for observation that requires community participation. It will be a life sized entry hallway, with a side table, telephone, and answering machine. I will have a public campaign of distributing the phone number wi ...
W5153
24.09.2012
Internal Painting Valuable gift - James Eisen
WWW
Among my recent Project Internal Painting Valuable gift, I examined forms of knowledge and Power, the transference of idea to object from one work to another. These works sit within a wider strategy of enacting associative thought into form. More directly ...
Among my recent Project Internal Painting Valuable gift, I examined forms of knowledge and Power, the transference of idea to object from one work to another. These works sit within a wider strategy of enacting associative thought into form. More directly ...
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 ...
W3584
13.05.2011
Proposal to an open call for the 2011 Emdash Award - Boris Dornbusch
WWW
The following project was a proposal to an open call for the 2011 Emdash Award. However, it is an idea I have developed in response to any Art Fair: A smaller-scale replica of the Frieze's exhibition tent is pitched in the exhibition pavilion. ...
The following project was a proposal to an open call for the 2011 Emdash Award. However, it is an idea I have developed in response to any Art Fair: A smaller-scale replica of the Frieze's exhibition tent is pitched in the exhibition pavilion. ...
W4591
25.05.2011
Unbuilt Art Project - colab studio, llc
WWW
colab studio, llc Reach 11 – Unbuilt Art Project AUP 05.25.11 Reach 11 is a sports complex in North Phoenix comprised of 18 soccer fields and 4 baseball fields. A Call for Artists went out to provide large amounts of shade at four diverse locations with ...
colab studio, llc Reach 11 – Unbuilt Art Project AUP 05.25.11 Reach 11 is a sports complex in North Phoenix comprised of 18 soccer fields and 4 baseball fields. A Call for Artists went out to provide large amounts of shade at four diverse locations with ...
W5462
21.10.2012
Danses - Kevin Evensen
WWW
Danses is a single channel digital video, comprised of three pieces, looped together to create a linear digital tryptic. The sound is an electro acoustic digital piece performed and arranged by myself, based on Erik Satie's Gymnopodies. TITLE Danses ...
Danses is a single channel digital video, comprised of three pieces, looped together to create a linear digital tryptic. The sound is an electro acoustic digital piece performed and arranged by myself, based on Erik Satie's Gymnopodies. TITLE Danses ...
W10194
07.04.2014
Making A Point - Joel Leibowitz
WWW
Location : fenced Inner perimeter Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir Central Park New York City ; 110 watt mil spec lasers, 400 mirror placements around perimeter of reservoir, center of reservoir 20 beams, array trays 76 degree angle of beams, hgt. ...
Location : fenced Inner perimeter Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir Central Park New York City ; 110 watt mil spec lasers, 400 mirror placements around perimeter of reservoir, center of reservoir 20 beams, array trays 76 degree angle of beams, hgt. ...
W4459
25.05.2011
adrien tirtiaux
WWW
My first proposed project for an integrated artwork to a water sports centre near Tournai, Belgium. The site faces the last remaining shipyard in an area with a dense industrial past. ...
My first proposed project for an integrated artwork to a water sports centre near Tournai, Belgium. The site faces the last remaining shipyard in an area with a dense industrial past. ...
U10002
01.01.1989
La Guerra De Los Simbolos - Victor Grippo
Unbuilt Roads
Una larga mesa, no necesariamente recta adaptada a las condiciones del espacio de exhibición, de 30 cm de ancho y longitud variable sobre la que estarà una larga "maqueta" construida con yeso blanco, de "paisa jes" urbanos conteniedo, edificios y simbol ...
Una larga mesa, no necesariamente recta adaptada a las condiciones del espacio de exhibición, de 30 cm de ancho y longitud variable sobre la que estarà una larga "maqueta" construida con yeso blanco, de "paisa jes" urbanos conteniedo, edificios y simbol ...
W3959
20.05.2011
Wall - Jeanne Friscia
WWW
"Wall" is a text-based installation of each of George Bush's State of the Union Addresses alphabetized and shown in consecutive order. The project is unfinished because I have only printed one of the speeches and have not found a venue interested. In ...
"Wall" is a text-based installation of each of George Bush's State of the Union Addresses alphabetized and shown in consecutive order. The project is unfinished because I have only printed one of the speeches and have not found a venue interested. In ...
W4854
08.08.2012
The Green,White and Red light district - Neda Tavallaee
WWW
This work concentrates on the fact that women in Iran are judged and valued by being wifes and mothers.Therefore there is a great ammount of pressure on them to find husbands.This leads to women being showcased for marriage. Proposal Title:The Gree ...
This work concentrates on the fact that women in Iran are judged and valued by being wifes and mothers.Therefore there is a great ammount of pressure on them to find husbands.This leads to women being showcased for marriage. Proposal Title:The Gree ...
W5401
20.10.2012
Sculpture in a park - Alexandros Kaklamanos
WWW
Abstract of the Project Proposal Sculpture in a park During 2010-2011, a thorough research is conducted on the vortex. Now, a need is emerged to create a sculpture that will produce the vortex in a natural way, without using any electro mechanical assi ...
Abstract of the Project Proposal Sculpture in a park During 2010-2011, a thorough research is conducted on the vortex. Now, a need is emerged to create a sculpture that will produce the vortex in a natural way, without using any electro mechanical assi ...
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. ...
W4953
20.08.2012
Monika Drożyńska
WWW
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art is an animator of a new artistic project whose aim is to create a permanent collection of artworks in the urban space. It is supposed to act as a stimulus to change the character of the district, where the institution ...
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art is an animator of a new artistic project whose aim is to create a permanent collection of artworks in the urban space. It is supposed to act as a stimulus to change the character of the district, where the institution ...
W3506
11.05.2011
Evidence of Difference - Sarah Hemm
WWW
Evidence of Difference criteria: must take one photograph every day of 2011 that will represent evidence of my difference
work must answer the question, “what makes me different? what am I doing today that is different than everyone else? what se ...
Evidence of Difference criteria: must take one photograph every day of 2011 that will represent evidence of my difference
work must answer the question, “what makes me different? what am I doing today that is different than everyone else? what se ...
W4712
26.05.2011
LISTE ROUGE [MEMORIAL FOR THE DISAPPEARED]  - spmb [Eduardo Aquino & Karen Shanski]
WWW
LISTE ROUGE [MEMORIAL FOR THE DISAPPEARED] is a proposal by spmb for the City of Geneva’s 2011 Neons Competition. Starting from the observation that the Geneva Ecological Region has lost seven flower species to urban development in the past decades, we ...
LISTE ROUGE [MEMORIAL FOR THE DISAPPEARED] is a proposal by spmb for the City of Geneva’s 2011 Neons Competition. Starting from the observation that the Geneva Ecological Region has lost seven flower species to urban development in the past decades, we ...
W4736
26.05.2011
WHITE FLAG PROJECT - WHITE FLAG PROJECT
WWW
The Project is to display a white flag on the top on contemporary artistic institutions in as many country as possible for a determined length of time. After a year of exposure to the elements, all the flags will be collected and brought back to France... ...
The Project is to display a white flag on the top on contemporary artistic institutions in as many country as possible for a determined length of time. After a year of exposure to the elements, all the flags will be collected and brought back to France... ...
W5408
20.10.2012
MOTHERS _ project - Tiziana Pers
WWW
MOTHERS _ project by Tiziana Pers ‘Mothers’ is a project composed by a series of photographs and an installation. During the ninth month of my pregnancy, one of the last days, I went into the wood, and I started painting my belly with three. ...
MOTHERS _ project by Tiziana Pers ‘Mothers’ is a project composed by a series of photographs and an installation. During the ninth month of my pregnancy, one of the last days, I went into the wood, and I started painting my belly with three. ...
W4379
25.05.2011
“Shifting Images of Marseille”  - Srinivas Mangipudi
WWW
Project Proposal: “Shifting Images of Marseille” The urban city areas are often filled with cars and vehicles of all kinds parked in different places, like parking lots, on the streets, or just moving on the road. These can be turned into dynamic ...
Project Proposal: “Shifting Images of Marseille” The urban city areas are often filled with cars and vehicles of all kinds parked in different places, like parking lots, on the streets, or just moving on the road. These can be turned into dynamic ...
W4677
26.05.2011
storefront display sale - Jenny Polak
WWW
Alien Vernacular: storefront display sale Jenny Polak, In Practice Proposal for Sculpture Center, 2008 For this project I will to go round stores in different NY neighbourhoods, to collect (document by drawing and photographing) their designs for exte ...
Alien Vernacular: storefront display sale Jenny Polak, In Practice Proposal for Sculpture Center, 2008 For this project I will to go round stores in different NY neighbourhoods, to collect (document by drawing and photographing) their designs for exte ...
W10185
04.04.2014
Robot Building Museum Shop from MCA to DIA - Maymay Jumsai
WWW
My proposal is to make a museum shop for the Robot Building my father designed. I’m asian, I have a strong family value. The Robot Building was part of the project ‘City on the Move’, that went to Venice Biennale in 1996. We had to pay for the ship ...
My proposal is to make a museum shop for the Robot Building my father designed. I’m asian, I have a strong family value. The Robot Building was part of the project ‘City on the Move’, that went to Venice Biennale in 1996. We had to pay for the ship ...