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.

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

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

Unbetitelt, Gänse-Projekt + Noch unbetitelt , " Durch den Mund sehen " + Kartoffeln  - Carsten Holler

Unrealized Turtles 1967 - Joseph Grigely

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

MAK - Wien  - Rosemarie Trockel

The Clock - Ayse Erkmen

Uncompleted 1966 - and on  - John Armleder

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5286
16.10.2012
Cove - Jerry Monteith
WWW
Cove Cove is a site work that would be made of earth, concrete and aluminum. The bulk of the mass is earth, which would be compacted and finished with a layer of topsoil. The curved wall, two orange vertical panels and the cone would all need to have s ...
Cove Cove is a site work that would be made of earth, concrete and aluminum. The bulk of the mass is earth, which would be compacted and finished with a layer of topsoil. The curved wall, two orange vertical panels and the cone would all need to have s ...
W4303
24.05.2011
George Bataille on the LA Freeway: The Public Art Work of Luther Thie - Luther Thie
WWW
George Bataille on the LA Freeway: The Public Art Work of Luther Thie By Frederick Young What immediately strikes one about Luther Thie’s LA Interchange is the scope and magnitude of the project, a real-time memorial to automobile crash victims ...
George Bataille on the LA Freeway: The Public Art Work of Luther Thie By Frederick Young What immediately strikes one about Luther Thie’s LA Interchange is the scope and magnitude of the project, a real-time memorial to automobile crash victims ...
W4112
23.05.2011
“Waste Work" ("Oeuvre Déchet”)  - Alexandre Dang
WWW
“Waste Work" ("Oeuvre Déchet”) Introduction Alexandre Dang is an artist committed towards raising awareness on issues linked with sustainable development. The theme explored in the artwork titled "Waste Work" (and described hereafter) is "waste" ...
“Waste Work" ("Oeuvre Déchet”) Introduction Alexandre Dang is an artist committed towards raising awareness on issues linked with sustainable development. The theme explored in the artwork titled "Waste Work" (and described hereafter) is "waste" ...
U9823
13.02.1997
Project tor the Veterans Administration Hospital--Bay Pines, Florida. - Robert Morris
Unbuilt Roads
13 Feb 97 Att: Hans Ulrich Obrist From: R. Morris (fax:914-255-2781) Re: Unbuilt Roads Dear Hans Ulrich Obrist, Thanks for you recent fax inviting me to participate in your project. I send along some information about a project that might be ...
13 Feb 97 Att: Hans Ulrich Obrist From: R. Morris (fax:914-255-2781) Re: Unbuilt Roads Dear Hans Ulrich Obrist, Thanks for you recent fax inviting me to participate in your project. I send along some information about a project that might be ...
W4515
25.05.2011
Viktor Timofeev
WWW
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
U9774
01.01.1994
Arrangement Stroom HCBK Den Haag - Ange Leccia
Unbuilt Roads
l'ecran video Geant construit dans le prolongement de l'architecture de l'opera de la ville (Philipszaal) difuse en continue une image de la mer inversée. (Eventuellement raisons pour lesquelles le travail n'a pu etre realise) Cout élevé. (Trop!) ...
l'ecran video Geant construit dans le prolongement de l'architecture de l'opera de la ville (Philipszaal) difuse en continue une image de la mer inversée. (Eventuellement raisons pour lesquelles le travail n'a pu etre realise) Cout élevé. (Trop!) ...
W4598
25.05.2011
Fitting Through A Hole - Michael Arata
WWW
Fitting Through A Hole The work allows the viewer to interpret the larger form as penetrating the hole in the lid of a five gallon paint bucket or alternately being secreted into the bucket. Michael Arata, 2004 ...
Fitting Through A Hole The work allows the viewer to interpret the larger form as penetrating the hole in the lid of a five gallon paint bucket or alternately being secreted into the bucket. Michael Arata, 2004 ...
W4315
24.05.2011
Catherine Vieira
WWW
For this public art installation, Invisible border, Paris-based artist Catherine Vieira proposes installing along East River State Park in Brooklyn a four layers of mesh fabric tent. ...
For this public art installation, Invisible border, Paris-based artist Catherine Vieira proposes installing along East River State Park in Brooklyn a four layers of mesh fabric tent. ...
W4389
25.05.2011
MegFord
WWW
This is a chart of a logic problem Joseph Kosuth presented in "Special Investigation". He called it "Complete Contents of Advertisement". I have provided the last line of the problem, completing the advertisement. ...
This is a chart of a logic problem Joseph Kosuth presented in "Special Investigation". He called it "Complete Contents of Advertisement". I have provided the last line of the problem, completing the advertisement. ...
W4271
24.05.2011
Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
Oregon Convention Center Proposal Portland, Oregon 1988 ...
Oregon Convention Center Proposal Portland, Oregon 1988 ...
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, ...
W4280
24.05.2011
Vision and Vernacular: Eight African American Artists in Venice - Martha Henry
WWW
American Folk Art Museum Presents Vision and Vernacular: Eight African American Artists in Venice Four Self-Taught Visionaries: Lonnie Holley, Mr. Imagination, Charlie Lucas, Kevin Sampson American culture, values and spirituality c ...
American Folk Art Museum Presents Vision and Vernacular: Eight African American Artists in Venice Four Self-Taught Visionaries: Lonnie Holley, Mr. Imagination, Charlie Lucas, Kevin Sampson American culture, values and spirituality c ...
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 ...
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. ...
U9712
14.11.1992
Memorial - Ilya Kabakov
Unbuilt Roads
Kabakov "MEMORIAL" Short description of the project The Concept of the Project "Memorial" The Russian revolution which established the "era of Socialism" is considered to be a most important event of the twentieth century. The end of ...
Kabakov "MEMORIAL" Short description of the project The Concept of the Project "Memorial" The Russian revolution which established the "era of Socialism" is considered to be a most important event of the twentieth century. The end of ...
U9548
01.01.1997
Why New Worlds Conceived by Artists Do Not Get Built - Peter Fend
Unbuilt Roads
Art, being a permutation or adaptation of that which is known, bodies forth the new. It bodies forth, at the least, mutations. These mutations, curiously, coincide with other fields of innovation, such as science and technology. And the mutations, t ...
Art, being a permutation or adaptation of that which is known, bodies forth the new. It bodies forth, at the least, mutations. These mutations, curiously, coincide with other fields of innovation, such as science and technology. And the mutations, t ...
W4911
14.08.2012
Curricula vitae - Joseph Redwood-Martinez
WWW
Curricula vitae Elective ethnic studies programs throughout the state of Arizona have been under intense scrutiny since 2010, when Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2281 into law, forbidding public or charter schools from offering at any grade level course ...
Curricula vitae Elective ethnic studies programs throughout the state of Arizona have been under intense scrutiny since 2010, when Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2281 into law, forbidding public or charter schools from offering at any grade level course ...
W4766
29.05.2011
Joanna Grasso
WWW
Take all paintings out of octagonal red room in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Leave homo-erotic sculptures of men in battle, also keep large gold gilded frames. Replace canvases with flat screen video monitors that display footage recorded from Tuscan tree ...
Take all paintings out of octagonal red room in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Leave homo-erotic sculptures of men in battle, also keep large gold gilded frames. Replace canvases with flat screen video monitors that display footage recorded from Tuscan tree ...
W4200
24.05.2011
Money what else - Angelo Ricciardi
WWW
My projects are often unrealized projects. Many and different the reasons. Practical difficulties, like the lack of money, the lack of a physical suitable space, of real opportunities, are certainly present and important, but, at the end, surmountable. Mo ...
My projects are often unrealized projects. Many and different the reasons. Practical difficulties, like the lack of money, the lack of a physical suitable space, of real opportunities, are certainly present and important, but, at the end, surmountable. Mo ...
W4357
25.05.2011
Dead Links In The Weak Universalism - Kevin Day
WWW
Kevin Day Dead Links In The Weak Universalism, Boris Groys, expanding on Agamben‟s „messianic knowledge,‟ argues that time, with the exacerbation of technological progress, has been increasingly contracting, shrinking to microscopic intervals.1 ...
Kevin Day Dead Links In The Weak Universalism, Boris Groys, expanding on Agamben‟s „messianic knowledge,‟ argues that time, with the exacerbation of technological progress, has been increasingly contracting, shrinking to microscopic intervals.1 ...
W5086
09.09.2012
Underwater Forest - Hans Feyerabend
WWW
Underwater Forest Suspended sculpture for Palmetto Bay Village Hall, Florida Underwater Forest is a large sculptural installation suspended from a 30’ ceiling, measuring 18’ in diameter. Its formal language derived from amorphous maritime life. Th ...
Underwater Forest Suspended sculpture for Palmetto Bay Village Hall, Florida Underwater Forest is a large sculptural installation suspended from a 30’ ceiling, measuring 18’ in diameter. Its formal language derived from amorphous maritime life. Th ...
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... ...
W5131
19.09.2012
Gods Acre - Leo Morrissey
WWW
Project: gods acre Each day I walk to work I walk through God’s Acre, a Moravian cemetery. The section of the cemetery I walk through is where the women and men are buried. An important part of the Moravian burial practice is that individuals ar ...
Project: gods acre Each day I walk to work I walk through God’s Acre, a Moravian cemetery. The section of the cemetery I walk through is where the women and men are buried. An important part of the Moravian burial practice is that individuals ar ...
W4290
24.05.2011
Strategia Della Tensione - Faber Lorne
WWW
Strategia Della Tensione By Faber Lorne “Strategia Della Tensione” is plans to be made with plastic fence used on construction site. Once placed in a specific environment, the plastic fence of safety activates the temporary subtraction of ...
Strategia Della Tensione By Faber Lorne “Strategia Della Tensione” is plans to be made with plastic fence used on construction site. Once placed in a specific environment, the plastic fence of safety activates the temporary subtraction of ...
W4153
23.05.2011
Unrealized Projects 1997 —2002 - Cornford & Cross
WWW
For us, a key function of contemporary art in an open society is to test concepts, assumptions and boundaries. One way we do this is through making site-specific work in public places; our projects are often satirical or polemic in nature, and involve a d ...
For us, a key function of contemporary art in an open society is to test concepts, assumptions and boundaries. One way we do this is through making site-specific work in public places; our projects are often satirical or polemic in nature, and involve a d ...
W5196
02.10.2012
The Installation series of Untitled (Wishes, Lies and Dreams >> Wonderfully Wonderful ...) - Sarawut Chutiwongpeti
WWW
“The Installation series of Untitled (Wishes, Lies and Dreams >> Wonderfully Wonderful ...)” Basic Concept: My goal is to investigate the expressive possibilities of conceptual visual language and to develop Collaborative New Art as part of bot ...
“The Installation series of Untitled (Wishes, Lies and Dreams >> Wonderfully Wonderful ...)” Basic Concept: My goal is to investigate the expressive possibilities of conceptual visual language and to develop Collaborative New Art as part of bot ...