Agency of Unrealised Projects
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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.

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Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman

Milan House (AC/DC & Joy Division) - Liam Gillick

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

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

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

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

The Rosetta Garden - Gary Simmons

Dog Jaw Monument - A Futurist Tele-introject - Leon Golub

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4439
25.05.2011
Maria Over Mount Athos - Maria Papadimitriou
WWW
By Jennifer Allen Maria Over Mount Athos A hot air balloon floats silently over Mount Athos... Not just any balloon but one carrying an image of Maria's face. Much to the surprise of the monks living on the peninsula, the face does not belong to th ...
By Jennifer Allen Maria Over Mount Athos A hot air balloon floats silently over Mount Athos... Not just any balloon but one carrying an image of Maria's face. Much to the surprise of the monks living on the peninsula, the face does not belong to th ...
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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 ...
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W4300
24.05.2011
Laundry Line - zavick botha
WWW
Washing clothes and laundry lines are common day to day images of human activity throughout most of the world. Although in Western society something so ordinary now takes place behind closed doors. Some people use clothes to express their identity, in oth ...
Washing clothes and laundry lines are common day to day images of human activity throughout most of the world. Although in Western society something so ordinary now takes place behind closed doors. Some people use clothes to express their identity, in oth ...
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W5154
24.09.2012
Borrowing the land - Joe Tymkow
WWW
This proposal was submitted to the 2012 UK Cultural Olympiad under the heading 'Artists Taking the Lead'. If chosen/realized it would have represented the largest piece of Land Art to date. ...
This proposal was submitted to the 2012 UK Cultural Olympiad under the heading 'Artists Taking the Lead'. If chosen/realized it would have represented the largest piece of Land Art to date. ...
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W4653
25.05.2011
Replacing the stream‐of‐consciousness - urssa severa
WWW
Replacing the stream‐of‐consciousness by Urssa Severa “Welcome, O life, I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.” Inspired by this declaratio ...
Replacing the stream‐of‐consciousness by Urssa Severa “Welcome, O life, I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.” Inspired by this declaratio ...
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W4422
25.05.2011
Drew Denny
WWW
After being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor, I designed this architectural rendering for my brain as a house. I would construct an installation of my Brain House so that I might lead audiences through it as I perform my memories, fantasies, dreams ...
After being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor, I designed this architectural rendering for my brain as a house. I would construct an installation of my Brain House so that I might lead audiences through it as I perform my memories, fantasies, dreams ...
W4579
25.05.2011
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT - Annita Koutsonanou | Evy Tsolaki | Maria Spaniola
WWW
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT …I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars [..]. I thought that a man might be an enemy of other men, of the different moment of other ...
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT …I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars [..]. I thought that a man might be an enemy of other men, of the different moment of other ...
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W4169
24.05.2011
Apocalypse Wave  - Mitya Nesterov & Lera Nibiru
WWW
Apocalypse Wave On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, Haiti and its capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation was horrible, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated ...
Apocalypse Wave On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, Haiti and its capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation was horrible, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake, the Haitian government reported that an estimated ...
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W4546
25.05.2011
IRON CLOUD - Rick Shaefer
WWW
IRON CLOUD by Rick Shaefer ...
IRON CLOUD by Rick Shaefer ...
W4115
23.05.2011
Tropical Grotesque - Lara Stein Pardo
WWW
Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. Contact: Jennifer Tisthammer Artist: Lara Stein Pardo Project Summary Funding from the Harpo Foundation will be used to support an artist residency at the Deering Estate and the production of a new body of work by artist ...
Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. Contact: Jennifer Tisthammer Artist: Lara Stein Pardo Project Summary Funding from the Harpo Foundation will be used to support an artist residency at the Deering Estate and the production of a new body of work by artist ...
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W3908
20.05.2011
Cloisters  - Simon Le Ruez
WWW
Cloisters' was an unrealised artwork submitted in relation to the Transformations project at the Lowry centre in Manchester. My proposal is to create a site-specific installation within the promenade gallery. Drawing on the walkway aspect of the space, ...
Cloisters' was an unrealised artwork submitted in relation to the Transformations project at the Lowry centre in Manchester. My proposal is to create a site-specific installation within the promenade gallery. Drawing on the walkway aspect of the space, ...
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U9988
01.10.1987
City Hall Tower Night Ilumination - Krysztof Wodiczko
Unbuilt Roads
"In the name of "progress" our official culture is striving to force the new media to do the work of the old." -Marshall McLuhan "For the city of today does speak to us, but it is also at certain points and in certain orders remarkably silent. There a ...
"In the name of "progress" our official culture is striving to force the new media to do the work of the old." -Marshall McLuhan "For the city of today does speak to us, but it is also at certain points and in certain orders remarkably silent. There a ...
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W3542
12.05.2011
Nathan Danilowicz
WWW
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
The working title for this yet to be realized sculpture is "untitled (covered bridge)." It is based largely on covered bridges found in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic United States. These historic bridges are predominantly red. This sculptu ...
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W5386
20.10.2012
Vickie Jo Franks
WWW
My plan was to make the front yard a moss garden beneath large oak trees here and create moss sculptures including a nativity scene with little moss trees and small animals.I used recycable materials as the armatures.... ...
My plan was to make the front yard a moss garden beneath large oak trees here and create moss sculptures including a nativity scene with little moss trees and small animals.I used recycable materials as the armatures.... ...
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W5198
03.10.2012
Radiation Limit - Sarah Kanouse
WWW
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
Sarah Kanouse Radiation Limit (2007/2009) “Radiation Limit” commemorates the human radiation experiments sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission from 1943 until at least 1974. The site-specific installation for the grounds around the Department ...
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W4110
23.05.2011
The Circumference is Everywhere - Daniel R Small
WWW
The Circumference is Everywhere, 2011 100 miles Northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert lies a city abandoned in advance of itself, a ruin that is an aerial monument to misguided optimism that was conceived of by Nat Mendelsohn and intended to r ...
The Circumference is Everywhere, 2011 100 miles Northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert lies a city abandoned in advance of itself, a ruin that is an aerial monument to misguided optimism that was conceived of by Nat Mendelsohn and intended to r ...
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W3732
18.05.2011
POP GOES THE WEASEL - Anne O'Callaghan & Barbara Sternberg
WWW
The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below** ...
The following is a brief synopsis of the proposal, POP GOES THE WEASEL, that we submitted for 2011 Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario Canada. This proposal was rejected due to censorship by the local Business Improvement Association (BIA), see emails below** ...
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W5287
16.10.2012
John R. Neeson
WWW
These images were submitted as a proposal as to the Bemis Centre USA. The modus operanti of this and related projects is to introduce as little as possible into an architectural space in order to heighten the perception and experience of ‘reality’. Wh ...
These images were submitted as a proposal as to the Bemis Centre USA. The modus operanti of this and related projects is to introduce as little as possible into an architectural space in order to heighten the perception and experience of ‘reality’. Wh ...
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W4376
25.05.2011
Dreams of Little Nemo  - MICHEL GERARD
WWW
Dreams of Little Nemo is a public sculpture about a personage in a comic book that I read as a child during the Second World War in occupied Paris. Little Nemo in Slumberland is a book about a scared small boy with whom I identified completely. He was ...
Dreams of Little Nemo is a public sculpture about a personage in a comic book that I read as a child during the Second World War in occupied Paris. Little Nemo in Slumberland is a book about a scared small boy with whom I identified completely. He was ...
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W4769
29.05.2011
sam still
WWW
911, 9 + 11 = 20. A series of 20 paintings, with 10 completed inspired by the sadness of 911. ...
911, 9 + 11 = 20. A series of 20 paintings, with 10 completed inspired by the sadness of 911. ...
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W4288
24.05.2011
ART DISCOURSE BINGO  - Tina Montenegro
WWW
ART DISCOURSE BINGO (Hi)story This project was thought to be carried out during the 28th Biennial of São Paulo [28ª Bienal de São Paulo], in 2008. The concept of this biennial was consolidated only a year before its opening, after many curators had ...
ART DISCOURSE BINGO (Hi)story This project was thought to be carried out during the 28th Biennial of São Paulo [28ª Bienal de São Paulo], in 2008. The concept of this biennial was consolidated only a year before its opening, after many curators had ...
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U9997
16.01.1997
Nicht realisierte Projekte - Stefan Demary
Unbuilt Roads
Lieber Hans - Ulrich! Nochmals Danke für die nette Einlandung. In dem Buch, Meine normale Arbeitsweine mit meine künstlerischen Ideen for laufend auf listen zu schreiben. Diese werden zum Teil Jahre später erst realisiert, allendings zählt als jah ...
Lieber Hans - Ulrich! Nochmals Danke für die nette Einlandung. In dem Buch, Meine normale Arbeitsweine mit meine künstlerischen Ideen for laufend auf listen zu schreiben. Diese werden zum Teil Jahre später erst realisiert, allendings zählt als jah ...
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W4430
25.05.2011
Fountains - Giuseppe Gabellone
WWW
Fountains Project for the wood of sculptures of Vassivière island, France February 2010 ...
Fountains Project for the wood of sculptures of Vassivière island, France February 2010 ...
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W10273
10.04.2014
Monument to the Iraq War Dead - Scott Sorli
WWW
Conservative estimates are that over one hundred thousand men, women, and children died in the Iraq War. Weapons of mass destruction that were used as justification for this illegal war were launched by the Americans and the British forces themselves. The ...
Conservative estimates are that over one hundred thousand men, women, and children died in the Iraq War. Weapons of mass destruction that were used as justification for this illegal war were launched by the Americans and the British forces themselves. The ...
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W5414
20.10.2012
We called it a modest proposal - gerlach en koop
WWW
We called it a modest proposal We called it a modest proposal when we presented it, one morning, end of January 2008, at the headquarters of Europol, Raamweg 47 in The Hague (NL), a building almost completely hidden behind a dense thicket of ivy. A rad ...
We called it a modest proposal We called it a modest proposal when we presented it, one morning, end of January 2008, at the headquarters of Europol, Raamweg 47 in The Hague (NL), a building almost completely hidden behind a dense thicket of ivy. A rad ...
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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 ...
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