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.

Tulips for Amsterdam - Isa Genzken

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

Why New Worlds Conceived by Artists Do Not Get Built - Peter Fend

Project for the Initiative Mahnmal Homosexuellenverfolgung, Frankfurt  - Jeff Wall

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Temple of the western buddha (1971 Kathmedu) - Herman de Vries

Battery Park City - Per Kirkeby

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

Making for Art - 100 Unsucceeded Presentation - 1995, 1996,  - Yutaka Sone

My House - Uri Tzaig

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
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 ...
W5035
31.08.2012
Firstandlast - Heikki Salo
WWW
Firstandlast was submitted to ISEA 04 in Helsinki. The installation consists of a series of artificial worlds, ranging from videoscapes to fully abstract spaces (e.g. from natural landscapes to fractal universes) that represent the development of a fic ...
Firstandlast was submitted to ISEA 04 in Helsinki. The installation consists of a series of artificial worlds, ranging from videoscapes to fully abstract spaces (e.g. from natural landscapes to fractal universes) that represent the development of a fic ...
W4883
10.08.2012
An archive of feminist cabaret and theatre posters from 1977 and onward - Mathias Kryger
WWW
An archive of feminist cabaret and theatre posters from 1977 and onward I recently decided to chronicle a certain mode of production in a certain historical period through an idiosyncratic gathering of visual material, primarily posters. It is idiosy ...
An archive of feminist cabaret and theatre posters from 1977 and onward I recently decided to chronicle a certain mode of production in a certain historical period through an idiosyncratic gathering of visual material, primarily posters. It is idiosy ...
W4000
21.05.2011
Freedom Hill (2010) - Edward Salem
WWW
Freedom Hill (2010) At Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a decommissioned tank, helicopter, cannon, and fighter jet have been permanently installed as monuments to U.S. military strength.  Taking a cue from Meret Oppenheim’s Object - Le D ...
Freedom Hill (2010) At Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a decommissioned tank, helicopter, cannon, and fighter jet have been permanently installed as monuments to U.S. military strength.  Taking a cue from Meret Oppenheim’s Object - Le D ...
W4050
22.05.2011
Dublin book project. - leo Morrissey
WWW
Books are the source material for my work; I propose to create a series of cut-books influenced on my stay in Dublin. Irelands great literary tradition and the importance of text, language, and history in my work makes Dublin an ideal place for me to crea ...
Books are the source material for my work; I propose to create a series of cut-books influenced on my stay in Dublin. Irelands great literary tradition and the importance of text, language, and history in my work makes Dublin an ideal place for me to crea ...
W5125
18.09.2012
Unsearchables - Nathiel de Large // Patrick Mohundro
WWW
Sited Articles: Consciousness as Integrated Information: a Provisional Manifesto Biol. Bull. December 2008 vol. 215 no. 3 216-242 Unsearchables Nathaniel De Large // Patrick Mohundro The premise Unsearchables lies in the archetype of Google and ...
Sited Articles: Consciousness as Integrated Information: a Provisional Manifesto Biol. Bull. December 2008 vol. 215 no. 3 216-242 Unsearchables Nathaniel De Large // Patrick Mohundro The premise Unsearchables lies in the archetype of Google and ...
W4549
25.05.2011
Auto da fe.  - Paul Murnaghan
WWW
Auto da fe. Shortly before the demolition of Sean Tracey House AKA Pallas Heights, the keys to the gallery and studios will be handed over to Paul Murnaghan. Murnaghan has agreed with Pallas Heights’ curators, Mark Cullen and Brian Duggan, that he wil ...
Auto da fe. Shortly before the demolition of Sean Tracey House AKA Pallas Heights, the keys to the gallery and studios will be handed over to Paul Murnaghan. Murnaghan has agreed with Pallas Heights’ curators, Mark Cullen and Brian Duggan, that he wil ...
W4251
24.05.2011
AFTER TILTED ARC - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL AFTER TILTED ARC, 1985 Proposal for Alternative to Existing Federal Plaza, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York City. Dimensions: 55' H x 20' W x 85' D (1676 H x 610 W x 2591 D cm.) Elements: Water ...
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL AFTER TILTED ARC, 1985 Proposal for Alternative to Existing Federal Plaza, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York City. Dimensions: 55' H x 20' W x 85' D (1676 H x 610 W x 2591 D cm.) Elements: Water ...
W4636
25.05.2011
C.Q - Ioanna Pantazopoulou
WWW
C.Q., 2010 honey jars, cosmetic containers, lipsticks, glue, mirror C.Q. is a maquette study for a fantastical monument, a ‘Disney Palace on acid’, a tribute to Beauty. It is an arrangement of cosmetics that are used as pigments to add tones to ...
C.Q., 2010 honey jars, cosmetic containers, lipsticks, glue, mirror C.Q. is a maquette study for a fantastical monument, a ‘Disney Palace on acid’, a tribute to Beauty. It is an arrangement of cosmetics that are used as pigments to add tones to ...
W3545
12.05.2011
GOLDEN - Deanne Butterworth
WWW
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
W3500
11.05.2011
MI6 – songs of british intelligence - Suzanne Treister
WWW
Suzanne Treister Director International Corporation of Lost Structures (ICOLS) www.icols.org I will inhabit an apartment inside MI6, British Intelligence HQ, located on the River Thames at Vauxhall, London, for a period of one year. Equipment in ...
Suzanne Treister Director International Corporation of Lost Structures (ICOLS) www.icols.org I will inhabit an apartment inside MI6, British Intelligence HQ, located on the River Thames at Vauxhall, London, for a period of one year. Equipment in ...
W5442
20.10.2012
GAZING BALL - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING IV: "GAZING BALL" for the Crystal Palace, Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain: A giant stainless steel ball fabrication. Mirror-like surface reflects 'nature' - the surroundings- architecture-etc. An 'image' co ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING IV: "GAZING BALL" for the Crystal Palace, Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain: A giant stainless steel ball fabrication. Mirror-like surface reflects 'nature' - the surroundings- architecture-etc. An 'image' co ...
U9936
23.01.1997
Messages to the Public - Nancy Spero
Unbuilt Roads
Dear Hans-Ulrich, Thank you for inviting me to participate in "Unbuilt Worlds - unrealized artist-projects". Sounds terrific. In 1986 I was invited to participate in a program called "Messages to the Public". The invited artists would be given a 30- ...
Dear Hans-Ulrich, Thank you for inviting me to participate in "Unbuilt Worlds - unrealized artist-projects". Sounds terrific. In 1986 I was invited to participate in a program called "Messages to the Public". The invited artists would be given a 30- ...
W5062
04.09.2012
(CAPTURING) FOG IN A BOX (2012) - Caroline Parks
WWW
(CAPTURING) FOG IN A BOX (2012) This unrealized project is to capture fog in a box (a clear Lucite type of box) so that the fog can be seen inside the box. The box can then be carried around (further into the fog) on a walk down the beach shoreline. T ...
(CAPTURING) FOG IN A BOX (2012) This unrealized project is to capture fog in a box (a clear Lucite type of box) so that the fog can be seen inside the box. The box can then be carried around (further into the fog) on a walk down the beach shoreline. T ...
W5268
13.10.2012
Olga Motchalova
WWW
ЗАЯВКА Краткие сведения об авторе. Ольга Борисовна Мочалова родилась в Москве в 1962 году. В 1985 г. окончила Московский архитектурный инс ...
ЗАЯВКА Краткие сведения об авторе. Ольга Борисовна Мочалова родилась в Москве в 1962 году. В 1985 г. окончила Московский архитектурный инс ...
W3554
12.05.2011
Filipa Ramos & António Contador
WWW
Lisbon, May 12, 2011 Dear Agency of Unrealized Projects, We have been planning to write you for so long. In fact, it has been more than two years now, since we first felt the urge to share our thoughts with you. But we ended up never doing it until ...
Lisbon, May 12, 2011 Dear Agency of Unrealized Projects, We have been planning to write you for so long. In fact, it has been more than two years now, since we first felt the urge to share our thoughts with you. But we ended up never doing it until ...
W4049
22.05.2011
Geno project - Leo Morrissey
WWW
Ten years ago in a museum in Milan Italy it was pointed out to me that there was an uncanny resemblance between myself and one of the multitude of Roman marble bust sculptures in the museum… This moment got me thinking about the connections between peop ...
Ten years ago in a museum in Milan Italy it was pointed out to me that there was an uncanny resemblance between myself and one of the multitude of Roman marble bust sculptures in the museum… This moment got me thinking about the connections between peop ...
W4616
25.05.2011
Unrealized project no. 09: Further Development or To Be in an Endless State of Flux - Ruben Aubrecht
WWW
Unrealized project no. 09: Further Development or To Be in an Endless State of Flux The work takes up the incessant developments in social, political and scientific matters and transfers this idea of a never-ending process allegorically onto buildings ...
Unrealized project no. 09: Further Development or To Be in an Endless State of Flux The work takes up the incessant developments in social, political and scientific matters and transfers this idea of a never-ending process allegorically onto buildings ...
W3504
11.05.2011
Global Culture - ALBERTO LICANDRO
WWW
Image 1: 1000mt highrise tower on 1 column with 52 steel cables around its supporting structure visible from street level to 500mt up, where the first of its 68 floors for restaurant space (20 floors), office space (30 floors) and living space (18 floors) ...
Image 1: 1000mt highrise tower on 1 column with 52 steel cables around its supporting structure visible from street level to 500mt up, where the first of its 68 floors for restaurant space (20 floors), office space (30 floors) and living space (18 floors) ...
W5099
13.09.2012
Seal of Salomon - Copa & Sordes
WWW
another idea for an ornament in public space See PDF ...
another idea for an ornament in public space See PDF ...
W4490
25.05.2011
TerraLoop - W.A.Davison
WWW
William A. Davison is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Through his solo sound and performance project Songs of the New Erotics, Davison has been applying classic experimental music techniques to conceptual/pe ...
William A. Davison is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer living and working in Toronto, Canada. Through his solo sound and performance project Songs of the New Erotics, Davison has been applying classic experimental music techniques to conceptual/pe ...
W4830
07.08.2012
Carbonsphere - Evelyn Rosenberg and Anthony Hyde
WWW
Black balls represent carbon atoms. They are piled in the bottom of the container at their present accumulation in the atmosphere. Each time an equivalent amount of carbon is released in the atmosphere a ball would be dropped. Each time a carbon reductio ...
Black balls represent carbon atoms. They are piled in the bottom of the container at their present accumulation in the atmosphere. Each time an equivalent amount of carbon is released in the atmosphere a ball would be dropped. Each time a carbon reductio ...
W10927
20.06.2015
If all the waves can be saved - Yifei He
WWW
One room, one chair with endless waves. I want to put waves into one space, it will end at the middle of the space, put one chair towards the waves . People can not step twice into the same river, and people also can not meet the very same two waves. ...
One room, one chair with endless waves. I want to put waves into one space, it will end at the middle of the space, put one chair towards the waves . People can not step twice into the same river, and people also can not meet the very same two waves. ...
W4158
23.05.2011
CODE NAME: HELTER SKELTER - simon tyszko
WWW
CODE NAME: HELTER SKELTER In this project, code named Helter Skelter, I wish to create a series of unique sonic compositions to be performed and played upon (using various sensors, mikes, radio signals, selected instruments and the specific resonant ...
CODE NAME: HELTER SKELTER In this project, code named Helter Skelter, I wish to create a series of unique sonic compositions to be performed and played upon (using various sensors, mikes, radio signals, selected instruments and the specific resonant ...
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" ...
W4664
25.05.2011
Field Experiment Osnabrück - MomenTech
WWW
Field Experiment Osnabrück an unrealized project by MomenTech http://momentech.blogspot.com Field Experiment Osnabrück is a proposed large-scale work in the public sphere based on MomenTech’s Field Experiment installation, an interactive, site-spec ...
Field Experiment Osnabrück an unrealized project by MomenTech http://momentech.blogspot.com Field Experiment Osnabrück is a proposed large-scale work in the public sphere based on MomenTech’s Field Experiment installation, an interactive, site-spec ...