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

Unrealized Turtles 1967 - Joseph Grigely

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

Billboard - Jimmie Durham

The World Record - General Idea

The lmprobable Flow - Larry Bell

Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery  - Erik Dietman

Fax Transmission - Raymond Pettibone and Jason Rhoades

Brücke Wein-Kanal Arch. Hermann Czech, Wein - Franz West

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W3925
20.05.2011
Proposal for Witches Memorial in Salem MA - Ed Levine
WWW
Proposal for Witches Memorial in Salem MA Giving voice to Witches Each of the 17 sculptural element is a musical instrument. Compressed air is cycled randomly through the internal pipe in each element. Consequently the sound will project around the si ...
Proposal for Witches Memorial in Salem MA Giving voice to Witches Each of the 17 sculptural element is a musical instrument. Compressed air is cycled randomly through the internal pipe in each element. Consequently the sound will project around the si ...
W4538
25.05.2011
G.R. and M.F. for Le C.C.C.
WWW
Cher A.U.P., nous abordons ces côtes optiques par cette lettre intraduisible pour essayer de décrocher un peu d'argent, ou du moins poursuivre notre existence momentanée par votre lecture profane. Ayant montré un intérêt pour les projets irré ...
Cher A.U.P., nous abordons ces côtes optiques par cette lettre intraduisible pour essayer de décrocher un peu d'argent, ou du moins poursuivre notre existence momentanée par votre lecture profane. Ayant montré un intérêt pour les projets irré ...
W4044
22.05.2011
Annie Wu & Ziga Testen
WWW
The project we have in mind begins with a little anecdote. Upon a chance meeting with Australian geometric abstraction painter John Nixon (1949) in the Netherlands, a thorough conversation revolving around a discontinued line of an Ikea table was brought ...
The project we have in mind begins with a little anecdote. Upon a chance meeting with Australian geometric abstraction painter John Nixon (1949) in the Netherlands, a thorough conversation revolving around a discontinued line of an Ikea table was brought ...
W10612
03.07.2014
On cherche à la lumière ce que l'on a perdu dans le noir - Nadine Lère
WWW
Mon projet est de construire et d’installer un dispositif éclairant, une source de lumière propre à voir. Le dispositif, un espace pénétrable, prend la fonction de point d’attraction, comme un phare. Il se veut être un point de repère, de rasse ...
Mon projet est de construire et d’installer un dispositif éclairant, une source de lumière propre à voir. Le dispositif, un espace pénétrable, prend la fonction de point d’attraction, comme un phare. Il se veut être un point de repère, de rasse ...
W10172
18.06.2014
Chicago Torture Justice Memorials' Project - Anja Christine Ross
WWW
The title of "Chicago Torture Justice Memorials' Project" is concerned with my suggestion building up a kind of wall with holes. In these holes you might add photographs of this prison-archives. In my mind I found another idea that this wall has a signatu ...
The title of "Chicago Torture Justice Memorials' Project" is concerned with my suggestion building up a kind of wall with holes. In these holes you might add photographs of this prison-archives. In my mind I found another idea that this wall has a signatu ...
W3807
18.05.2011
The Ethereal Battle - David Normal
WWW
The Ethereal Battle is a cosmological fantasy consisting of twenty paintings that depict the cyclic destruction and creation of the world._The premise of the Ethereal Battle envisions the aftermath of an all-pervading catastrophe in which humanity perishe ...
The Ethereal Battle is a cosmological fantasy consisting of twenty paintings that depict the cyclic destruction and creation of the world._The premise of the Ethereal Battle envisions the aftermath of an all-pervading catastrophe in which humanity perishe ...
W3547
12.05.2011
Morality - Peter Dickinson
WWW
An interactive painting installation titled Morality The project is outlined at this link and a pdf with instructions on how morality would be managed can also be found on this page. http://www.peter-dickinson.co.uk/Morality.html ...
An interactive painting installation titled Morality The project is outlined at this link and a pdf with instructions on how morality would be managed can also be found on this page. http://www.peter-dickinson.co.uk/Morality.html ...
W3872
19.05.2011
I TO EYE - Jacek Smolicki
WWW
"I to eye" project is an unfinished photo- documentation of author's face to face confrontation with 400 CCTV cameras of Old Town of Jerusalem (2010) Confronting the unrealized city... Jacek Smolicki 2010 Jerusalem is a specific place. The parad ...
"I to eye" project is an unfinished photo- documentation of author's face to face confrontation with 400 CCTV cameras of Old Town of Jerusalem (2010) Confronting the unrealized city... Jacek Smolicki 2010 Jerusalem is a specific place. The parad ...
W5057
03.09.2012
Sheltered Apartments in Buztintxuri  - Taller Basico de Arquitectura [TBA]
WWW
Sheltered Apartments in Buztintxuri (2009) We understand the site as an opportunity to inhabit a space that ends in a dividing wall, and so, an uncompleted space. From this wall, we build a bone that links the existing buildings with the new project an ...
Sheltered Apartments in Buztintxuri (2009) We understand the site as an opportunity to inhabit a space that ends in a dividing wall, and so, an uncompleted space. From this wall, we build a bone that links the existing buildings with the new project an ...
W4659
25.05.2011
Correspondence. - Mark Rowan-Hull
WWW
Correspondence. Hearing /Vision. 2010. I am a visual artist who works mostly live in performance with Music. This work has evolved partly through my own joint practice as an artist and musician and through my own unique experience of seeing music and ...
Correspondence. Hearing /Vision. 2010. I am a visual artist who works mostly live in performance with Music. This work has evolved partly through my own joint practice as an artist and musician and through my own unique experience of seeing music and ...
W4481
25.05.2011
Social Media Surrogate  - Jesse Fulton
WWW
Fulton 1 Social Media Surrogate Summary Social Media Surrogate is a conceptual online performance. The piece in its simplest form consists of the following four actions: 1. Write a script to gather data from a social network which accurately character ...
Fulton 1 Social Media Surrogate Summary Social Media Surrogate is a conceptual online performance. The piece in its simplest form consists of the following four actions: 1. Write a script to gather data from a social network which accurately character ...
W3781
18.05.2011
Squatting Abandoned Villages - Hannah Kaihovirta-Rosvik
WWW
The vision was that this art project would examine how to visualize contemporary art in a rural area and to make a social art project involving local community in art. Brief project concept The Social Art Project IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is an artist ...
The vision was that this art project would examine how to visualize contemporary art in a rural area and to make a social art project involving local community in art. Brief project concept The Social Art Project IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is an artist ...
W4543
25.05.2011
TO/HERE. moving an insignificant signal. - Paula Massarutti
WWW
TO/HERE. moving an insignificant signal. [mass performance + object exhibition + production registers]. Suplicantes [Supplicants] – historical and symbolic context [Las Precolombinas] Pre- Columbian images known as the suplicantes, [see image 1] ...
TO/HERE. moving an insignificant signal. [mass performance + object exhibition + production registers]. Suplicantes [Supplicants] – historical and symbolic context [Las Precolombinas] Pre- Columbian images known as the suplicantes, [see image 1] ...
W3496
11.05.2011
Greenwich South - DeWitt Godfrey
WWW
Greenwich South commissioned by The Alliance for Downtown New York to participate in a visioning study that presents ways to transform the 23 blocks south of the World Trade Center—known as Greenwich South. The study was led by Architecture Research ...
Greenwich South commissioned by The Alliance for Downtown New York to participate in a visioning study that presents ways to transform the 23 blocks south of the World Trade Center—known as Greenwich South. The study was led by Architecture Research ...
W3803
18.05.2011
An experience being an experience like an experience you just had - Joanne Tatham & Tom O'Sullivan
WWW
"An experience being an experience like an experience you just had" was an unsuccessful proposal for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. ...
"An experience being an experience like an experience you just had" was an unsuccessful proposal for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. ...
W3564
12.05.2011
Das Kapital - Marcello Mercado
WWW
Das Kapital: http://www.marcellomercado.com/html/videoart/index.html "Marcello Mercado’s Capital is neither a finished product nor artware. His Capital is a work-in-progress. It will not be finished until the artist no longer believes in it or when ...
Das Kapital: http://www.marcellomercado.com/html/videoart/index.html "Marcello Mercado’s Capital is neither a finished product nor artware. His Capital is a work-in-progress. It will not be finished until the artist no longer believes in it or when ...
W4891
10.08.2012
Rachael Agnew
WWW
This project questions the structure of the foundations of scientific reality based on the atomic model and contrasts this with the philosophy of phenomenology. The paradox of these two contrasting foundations creates an opening for exploration while also ...
This project questions the structure of the foundations of scientific reality based on the atomic model and contrasts this with the philosophy of phenomenology. The paradox of these two contrasting foundations creates an opening for exploration while also ...
W4233
24.05.2011
Elise Lammer
WWW
This work is an homage to the lost artwork by John Baldessari "Untitled (after Palm Tree (for Charlemagne)" 1975. This unrealized project aims to collect similar postcards as the ones displayed in Peter Kirby's documentary and recreate Baldessari's lost ...
This work is an homage to the lost artwork by John Baldessari "Untitled (after Palm Tree (for Charlemagne)" 1975. This unrealized project aims to collect similar postcards as the ones displayed in Peter Kirby's documentary and recreate Baldessari's lost ...
W3858
19.05.2011
Cheryl K. Shurtleff
WWW
I propose to construct cat hair figures from fur collected from the cats housed at the Idaho Humane Shelter over a period of time. In order to realize this project I propose to visit the Humane Shelter twice per week over a period of one month. I will pet ...
I propose to construct cat hair figures from fur collected from the cats housed at the Idaho Humane Shelter over a period of time. In order to realize this project I propose to visit the Humane Shelter twice per week over a period of one month. I will pet ...
U9303
01.06.1990
PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden
Unbuilt Roads
I propose that a typical working fisherman's boat 30 to 50 feet in length be attached to the side of the new Seattle Art Museum building. The boat's bow would point skyward, it's keel resting along one side of the building . A cable from the roof to the b ...
I propose that a typical working fisherman's boat 30 to 50 feet in length be attached to the side of the new Seattle Art Museum building. The boat's bow would point skyward, it's keel resting along one side of the building . A cable from the roof to the b ...
U9523
18.02.1997
Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery  - Erik Dietman
Unbuilt Roads
Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery à l'occasion de l'exposition pour la préfiguration du Musée de sculptures de Buisson-Rond organisée par Françoise Guichon en 1982. Comme toutes Jes places publiques, la Place Saint Léger est peuplée ...
Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery à l'occasion de l'exposition pour la préfiguration du Musée de sculptures de Buisson-Rond organisée par Françoise Guichon en 1982. Comme toutes Jes places publiques, la Place Saint Léger est peuplée ...
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 ...
W4215
24.05.2011
Book-less library – The Transfiguration - Will Foster
WWW
Book-less library – The Transfiguration Locate a public library. Enquire into the amount of books the library holds and how many books can be loaned at one time per person. Calculate how many people would be needed to empty the library. ...
Book-less library – The Transfiguration Locate a public library. Enquire into the amount of books the library holds and how many books can be loaned at one time per person. Calculate how many people would be needed to empty the library. ...
W4649
25.05.2011
Treska - Utopian Recreation  - Lundebye & Tham
WWW
Treska - Utopian Recreation | Recreating Utopia is a collaboration between Anette Lundebye and Mathilda Tham in partnership with Press to Exit Project Space, Macedonia. This project was invited as part of Press to Exit’s programme: Lectures, Presentati ...
Treska - Utopian Recreation | Recreating Utopia is a collaboration between Anette Lundebye and Mathilda Tham in partnership with Press to Exit Project Space, Macedonia. This project was invited as part of Press to Exit’s programme: Lectures, Presentati ...
W4693
26.05.2011
a flower every day - Nina Meledandri
WWW
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
W3832
19.05.2011
YKB : NYC Yves Klein Blue : A New York City Road. - Jeff Wood
WWW
" felt only night within me and it was then that I conceived the new art. " Kazimir Malevich YKB : NYC is a feature length art-film proposal in which 2 art-handlers driving a truck in New York city experience the city as a grand artwork while the ...
" felt only night within me and it was then that I conceived the new art. " Kazimir Malevich YKB : NYC is a feature length art-film proposal in which 2 art-handlers driving a truck in New York city experience the city as a grand artwork while the ...