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.

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

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

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

Invitation Space No.1 - Tania Mouraud

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

PROJEKT - Ulrich Rückreim

Passage - Richard Wentworth

Merci, Thank you, Danke: Les 2 sujets  - Thomas Hirschorn

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4917
15.08.2012
Oxford Toilet Exchange - Katie Herzog
WWW
Oxford Toilet Exchange My proposed exchange will be facilitated via the swapping of doors in the stalls of the public toilet at the Oxford University Library with stall doors in the Oxford Public Library. Library Toilet as Final Frontier: On Reject ...
Oxford Toilet Exchange My proposed exchange will be facilitated via the swapping of doors in the stalls of the public toilet at the Oxford University Library with stall doors in the Oxford Public Library. Library Toilet as Final Frontier: On Reject ...
W5368
19.10.2012
World Trade Center Memorial Proposal - Stephen Canneto
WWW
The design honors and celebrates the lives of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The figurative road to healing begins with a literal journey, with the soaring zenith of the Memorial Spire catching the eye of newly arriving visitors, ...
The design honors and celebrates the lives of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The figurative road to healing begins with a literal journey, with the soaring zenith of the Memorial Spire catching the eye of newly arriving visitors, ...
W3753
18.05.2011
24 hours – surveillance of the sun - renata padovan
WWW
"24 Hs - Surveillance of the sun" is a project that maps sunsets and sunrises around the world. It aims at placing the viewer face to face with the idea of relative time and space. Considering that in 24 hours the Earth completes a full rotation in re ...
"24 Hs - Surveillance of the sun" is a project that maps sunsets and sunrises around the world. It aims at placing the viewer face to face with the idea of relative time and space. Considering that in 24 hours the Earth completes a full rotation in re ...
W4737
26.05.2011
Untitled Sign No. 4 - Kasper Sonne
WWW
Kasper Sonne ‘Untitled Sign No. 4’ Proposed work for the NEONS competition 2011. Fonds municipal d’art contemporain (Fmac) Concours NEONS (FCAC/Fmac) 34, rue des Bains 1205 Genève Switzerland While the sign clearly appropriates it’s ...
Kasper Sonne ‘Untitled Sign No. 4’ Proposed work for the NEONS competition 2011. Fonds municipal d’art contemporain (Fmac) Concours NEONS (FCAC/Fmac) 34, rue des Bains 1205 Genève Switzerland While the sign clearly appropriates it’s ...
W4212
24.05.2011
Louvre - Gábor Ösz
WWW
Introduction A few years ago, when I first visited the Louvre, I was surprised to see that the signposts giving directions for the painting La Gioconda already started at the gates. As I was to learn later, there exists a form of cultural pilgrimage t ...
Introduction A few years ago, when I first visited the Louvre, I was surprised to see that the signposts giving directions for the painting La Gioconda already started at the gates. As I was to learn later, there exists a form of cultural pilgrimage t ...
W3919
20.05.2011
Art at the service of … Short history - Alina and Jeff Bliumis
WWW
2010-present “Art at the service of …,Short history”- a series of 5-7 sculptures represents monuments that were destroyed at various times around the world. Each sculpture consists of a scaled down replica of a monument on a pedestal. A short not ...
2010-present “Art at the service of …,Short history”- a series of 5-7 sculptures represents monuments that were destroyed at various times around the world. Each sculpture consists of a scaled down replica of a monument on a pedestal. A short not ...
W4356
25.05.2011
Sutton Scarsdale Hall, The pavilion of post-contemporary curating - Ben Allen
WWW
Sutton Scarsdale Hall, The pavilion of post-contemporary curating If the Sun and Moon Should Doubt/They’d immediately go out William Blake This proposal will be based around three successive phases of projects: infrastructural / experimental / in ...
Sutton Scarsdale Hall, The pavilion of post-contemporary curating If the Sun and Moon Should Doubt/They’d immediately go out William Blake This proposal will be based around three successive phases of projects: infrastructural / experimental / in ...
W5457
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING V: “LOST” (A Porcelain Landscape Room) - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING V: “LOST” (A Porcelain Landscape Room) Part of a larger project "Looking for the Labyrinth: Re-collecting Versailles". Cast white porcelain, sculptural walls, total size approximately 16 feet x 12 ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING V: “LOST” (A Porcelain Landscape Room) Part of a larger project "Looking for the Labyrinth: Re-collecting Versailles". Cast white porcelain, sculptural walls, total size approximately 16 feet x 12 ...
W4412
25.05.2011
The Room102 Collective  - Room102 (Eleni Frudaraki & Juan Caicedo)
WWW
The Room102 Collective is a recently formed art collective currently in the pursue of finding what bonds it together conceptually. In it take part at the moment: Eleni Froudaraki * 1984 in Crete, Greece. She studied painting and sculpture in Athens School ...
The Room102 Collective is a recently formed art collective currently in the pursue of finding what bonds it together conceptually. In it take part at the moment: Eleni Froudaraki * 1984 in Crete, Greece. She studied painting and sculpture in Athens School ...
W3914
20.05.2011
Girl lists - David
WWW
David Hornback Spain 2alex.neutron@gmail.com My older brother’s excessive, obsessive list-making of girls when we were young used to drive me nuts. He made lists of all the girls he had danced with, he had kissed, he had touched, he desired, he h ...
David Hornback Spain 2alex.neutron@gmail.com My older brother’s excessive, obsessive list-making of girls when we were young used to drive me nuts. He made lists of all the girls he had danced with, he had kissed, he had touched, he desired, he h ...
W4235
24.05.2011
STRESS - Fred Perie
WWW
STRESS is fictitious industrial construction, whose only aim is to draw a perfectly straight red line that strikes through a wide landscape on the banks of Loire river estuary. It is drawn over 2 km between an oil refinery and some isolated grove, where i ...
STRESS is fictitious industrial construction, whose only aim is to draw a perfectly straight red line that strikes through a wide landscape on the banks of Loire river estuary. It is drawn over 2 km between an oil refinery and some isolated grove, where i ...
W5371
19.10.2012
GPS- and audio-guided walking tour on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah/Nevada, USA - Sonja Hinrichsen
WWW
Project Description: This environmental arts project engages communities to participate in a 2 ½ mile GPS- and audio-guided loop-walk on the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, UT. The walking tour follows 20-25 large “interest markers” sprayed on ...
Project Description: This environmental arts project engages communities to participate in a 2 ½ mile GPS- and audio-guided loop-walk on the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, UT. The walking tour follows 20-25 large “interest markers” sprayed on ...
W10503
05.05.2014
Brookside Re-seen - Nicky Hamlyn
WWW
The project is a film that would have been made in Brookside Close, Liverpool, the actually existing cul-de-sac of houses in which the long-running TV soap opera 'Brookside' (1982 - 2003) was filmed and set. My plan was to go to Brookside Close and make a ...
The project is a film that would have been made in Brookside Close, Liverpool, the actually existing cul-de-sac of houses in which the long-running TV soap opera 'Brookside' (1982 - 2003) was filmed and set. My plan was to go to Brookside Close and make a ...
W5456
20.10.2012
“short hi.stories” series - Plamen Yordanov
WWW
waste not art “short hi.stories” series 1995 – ongoing unrealized/unrealizable project intended for installation at the Serpentine Gallery, London (or any other museum that wishes to exhibit the project) by Plamen Yordanov descriptio ...
waste not art “short hi.stories” series 1995 – ongoing unrealized/unrealizable project intended for installation at the Serpentine Gallery, London (or any other museum that wishes to exhibit the project) by Plamen Yordanov descriptio ...
U9759
06.04.1997
Monument to Democracy - Kounellis
Unbuilt Roads
La scultura doveva essere posata davanti alla nuova ala del parlamento olandese di Den Haag. Sono partito dalla struttura ampia, di grande presenza, degll fumaioli che si vedevano sui tetto del vecchio parlamento. Questa strutture architectonica era diven ...
La scultura doveva essere posata davanti alla nuova ala del parlamento olandese di Den Haag. Sono partito dalla struttura ampia, di grande presenza, degll fumaioli che si vedevano sui tetto del vecchio parlamento. Questa strutture architectonica era diven ...
W3817
19.05.2011
Igor Eugen Prokop
WWW
„Igor Eugen Prokop creates sumptuously colored images created with an unusual pairing of mixed media and acrylic on glass or canvas. These are incredibly energetic works, grasping our awareness and plunging us into a spectacular, glittering cosmos. ...
„Igor Eugen Prokop creates sumptuously colored images created with an unusual pairing of mixed media and acrylic on glass or canvas. These are incredibly energetic works, grasping our awareness and plunging us into a spectacular, glittering cosmos. ...
W10444
23.04.2014
Glass Tower 50 - Sean Scully
WWW
Glass Tower 50, 2014 is constructed of fifty glass panels. The slabs of glass are roughly cut on their edges allowing spaces between the layers enabling light and air to enter the work. This design gives it a sense of weightlessness, as a counter point ...
Glass Tower 50, 2014 is constructed of fifty glass panels. The slabs of glass are roughly cut on their edges allowing spaces between the layers enabling light and air to enter the work. This design gives it a sense of weightlessness, as a counter point ...
W4933
18.08.2012
Sonia E Barrett
WWW
Unfinished video installation--view visuals at: http://www.sebarrett.com/Video-work.html Contact for further information and details: Sonia E Barrett, email: soniabarrett@hotmail.com Sonia E Barrett Email: soniabarrett@hotmail.com Website: http:// ...
Unfinished video installation--view visuals at: http://www.sebarrett.com/Video-work.html Contact for further information and details: Sonia E Barrett, email: soniabarrett@hotmail.com Sonia E Barrett Email: soniabarrett@hotmail.com Website: http:// ...
W4043
22.05.2011
THE LIVING WATER - Rodica A Miller
WWW
There have always been vanguardists, people with innovative ideas who opened new horizons and trends. For me, this is one of my unrealized projects for Art & Technology. As a subjective experience, my painting is an illusory world of colors, metaphors ...
There have always been vanguardists, people with innovative ideas who opened new horizons and trends. For me, this is one of my unrealized projects for Art & Technology. As a subjective experience, my painting is an illusory world of colors, metaphors ...
U9696
01.01.1993
Ceinture - Huang Ping Yong
Unbuilt Roads
Ce Projet était fait pour la vitrine (galerie) qui se situe autour de la salle principal et d'un autre côte vers las rues, la piece est un tuyau transparent de 75M longeur, 40 cm diamétre, delans mettre les plus sortes d'insecte = sorpion, lézards, ar ...
Ce Projet était fait pour la vitrine (galerie) qui se situe autour de la salle principal et d'un autre côte vers las rues, la piece est un tuyau transparent de 75M longeur, 40 cm diamétre, delans mettre les plus sortes d'insecte = sorpion, lézards, ar ...
W4239
24.05.2011
OXYGEN - Peter Boyadjieff
WWW
Today our metropolitan networks require more and more physical space for their residual infrastructure and paradoxically seem to leave less and less legroom for urban appropriation by their occupants. Rather than being subjugated to it, the supremacy of t ...
Today our metropolitan networks require more and more physical space for their residual infrastructure and paradoxically seem to leave less and less legroom for urban appropriation by their occupants. Rather than being subjugated to it, the supremacy of t ...
W4265
24.05.2011
Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
Project for Hypothetical Pond Sonsbeek Arnheim, The Netherlands 1986 ...
Project for Hypothetical Pond Sonsbeek Arnheim, The Netherlands 1986 ...
W5496
30.10.2012
Hermitage Pilgrimage: Art Video - Sheridan Lowrey
WWW
The first project, "Contemporary Neo-Objective Sculpture," describes a combination of objects, an installation, which I prefer to leave as text. The second, "Hermitage Toilet Overflow," an unawarded sabbatical proposal. Sheridan Lowrey Full-time Fa ...
The first project, "Contemporary Neo-Objective Sculpture," describes a combination of objects, an installation, which I prefer to leave as text. The second, "Hermitage Toilet Overflow," an unawarded sabbatical proposal. Sheridan Lowrey Full-time Fa ...
W4467
25.05.2011
ExpErimEnts and obsErvations - hanna husberg
WWW
ExpErimEnts and obsErvations on diffErEnt kinds of air The project introduces a canalization of tubes with inhalers connected to N2O gas tanks at some public spaces as the auditorium of a theatre or a metro train. Experiments and observations on differe ...
ExpErimEnts and obsErvations on diffErEnt kinds of air The project introduces a canalization of tubes with inhalers connected to N2O gas tanks at some public spaces as the auditorium of a theatre or a metro train. Experiments and observations on differe ...
W4623
25.05.2011
Economic Express or Mobility Express Project  - reaction-lalou
WWW
Economic Express or Mobility Express Project Form: Cross-discipline Mediums: Sculpture, Performance, Installations, Film Artist-Author: reaction-lalou Exhibited: Technopolis-Industrial Museum of Athens-Greece-6th Video Art Festival 2010 Maktab Anbar Mus ...
Economic Express or Mobility Express Project Form: Cross-discipline Mediums: Sculpture, Performance, Installations, Film Artist-Author: reaction-lalou Exhibited: Technopolis-Industrial Museum of Athens-Greece-6th Video Art Festival 2010 Maktab Anbar Mus ...
W4457
25.05.2011
Bamboo Treehouse Project summary  - Suwan Laimanee
WWW
Bamboo Treehouse Project summary Bamboo Treehouse is a site-specific performance intended to provide an inspirational example of sustainable living to both the local and global population alike. The project is an ongoing interactive experiment, explorin ...
Bamboo Treehouse Project summary Bamboo Treehouse is a site-specific performance intended to provide an inspirational example of sustainable living to both the local and global population alike. The project is an ongoing interactive experiment, explorin ...