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.

Nicht realisierte Projekte - Stefan Demary

No title, as the project only reached proposal stage - Rikrit Tiravanija

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

d'un projet dédié aux victimes de la Shoah. - Christian Boltanski

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

Unrealized project for Tate Gallery + ICA, 1969 - Gilbert and George

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

Chen H.V.O + G.T. - Bertrand Lavier

Aus: Katalog 'Kunst bleibt Kunst' - Hans Peter Feldman

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4761
27.05.2011
24-Hour Kaprow - Richard Smolinski
WWW
"24-Hour Kaprow" was envisioned as a performance video where Kaprow’s collected works would be re-presented through a 24 hour long video. RICHard SMOLinski’s unrealized project, 24-Hour Kaprow 24-Hour Kaprow was envisioned as a performance vide ...
"24-Hour Kaprow" was envisioned as a performance video where Kaprow’s collected works would be re-presented through a 24 hour long video. RICHard SMOLinski’s unrealized project, 24-Hour Kaprow 24-Hour Kaprow was envisioned as a performance vide ...
W3881
19.05.2011
Ned James & the Swifts
WWW
Proposal: Part 1. Use the artists fee to place 1000 £1 bets on the races during St Patrick’s Day. Dressed as the embodiment of St Patrick placing the bets one after another will take all day and create a performance of endurance and intrigue. T ...
Proposal: Part 1. Use the artists fee to place 1000 £1 bets on the races during St Patrick’s Day. Dressed as the embodiment of St Patrick placing the bets one after another will take all day and create a performance of endurance and intrigue. T ...
W3687
16.05.2011
Pet Food - Alexandra McGlynn
WWW
In most Western countries there is a taboo concerning the eating of animals regarded as 'pets' for example - horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, reptiles, large insects etcetera that does not exist in Asia or other parts of the world. In C ...
In most Western countries there is a taboo concerning the eating of animals regarded as 'pets' for example - horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, reptiles, large insects etcetera that does not exist in Asia or other parts of the world. In C ...
W4016
22.05.2011
UNVEIL - Alessandro Rolandi
WWW
action-performance for Caochangdi Village project, spring 2011 1) With the help of several artists and local people from Caochangdi village,the message would be spread around of an artistic action involving the local people 2) After having bought arou ...
action-performance for Caochangdi Village project, spring 2011 1) With the help of several artists and local people from Caochangdi village,the message would be spread around of an artistic action involving the local people 2) After having bought arou ...
W4015
22.05.2011
Helle Rask Crawford
WWW
Bronze Sculpture 80cm x 60cm x 70cm plus a base 100cm heigh. “Tormented” is a comment on the ongoing use of torture and violence, the innate aggresiveness in man. Also a tribute to the women and their children, who are often left with nothing in t ...
Bronze Sculpture 80cm x 60cm x 70cm plus a base 100cm heigh. “Tormented” is a comment on the ongoing use of torture and violence, the innate aggresiveness in man. Also a tribute to the women and their children, who are often left with nothing in t ...
W3969
21.05.2011
L’Ombre en feu, 1996 Work in progress - Patricia Jacomella
WWW
Excerpt from the advertising campaign Buy new Value! Dear Art Lover Have you run out of space for more works of art? If so, why not buy an intangible work of art and participate in a multicultural STATEMENT Patrici ...
Excerpt from the advertising campaign Buy new Value! Dear Art Lover Have you run out of space for more works of art? If so, why not buy an intangible work of art and participate in a multicultural STATEMENT Patrici ...
W3532
11.05.2011
The Sounds of the Sun Pavilion - Michael Jantzen
WWW
​The Sounds of the Sun Pavilion is a conceptual proposal for a large structure made of many small, pre-fabricated, square, curved, steel tube components. These components are joined together to form thirteen large interwoven curved elements. One side o ...
​The Sounds of the Sun Pavilion is a conceptual proposal for a large structure made of many small, pre-fabricated, square, curved, steel tube components. These components are joined together to form thirteen large interwoven curved elements. One side o ...
W4122
23.05.2011
The Butterfly Tree - Chris Lipomi
WWW
There is a project which I have been thinking about and working on for quite some time now. Basically it is a living kinetic sculpture of a full sized tree (15/20 ft. tall), with living green tropical butterflies as the leaves. The tree itself, function ...
There is a project which I have been thinking about and working on for quite some time now. Basically it is a living kinetic sculpture of a full sized tree (15/20 ft. tall), with living green tropical butterflies as the leaves. The tree itself, function ...
W4884
10.08.2012
Magazine: 2012 - Caroline Jaine
WWW
Magazine: 2012 is the first exhibition not to be held at the newly acquired Serpentine Sackler Gallery. The show features works by British artists Janice Wilkins and Caroline Jaine and includes: Anonymising the Magazine, Free Libyan Youth, Chromakey, Ico ...
Magazine: 2012 is the first exhibition not to be held at the newly acquired Serpentine Sackler Gallery. The show features works by British artists Janice Wilkins and Caroline Jaine and includes: Anonymising the Magazine, Free Libyan Youth, Chromakey, Ico ...
W3669
15.05.2011
Music For Distances - Carla Cisno
WWW
Proposal for Historisches Museum Baden (Switzerland) within DAS OHR DER ZEIT- Projektwettbewerb-Klangintervention im Historisches Museum Baden. Specifically designed for the spaces of Landvogteischloss, Music For Distances is a particular chordal-ram ...
Proposal for Historisches Museum Baden (Switzerland) within DAS OHR DER ZEIT- Projektwettbewerb-Klangintervention im Historisches Museum Baden. Specifically designed for the spaces of Landvogteischloss, Music For Distances is a particular chordal-ram ...
W4063
23.05.2011
Brit Bunkley
WWW
A signpost. An elevated park. ...
A signpost. An elevated park. ...
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 ...
W4590
25.05.2011
Feniksi - Feniksi
WWW
From: Feniksi Re: The Artist’s Heart for Art-Historians, Curators and Art-Critics A Quitting Proposal This proposal has derived from a fond desire to quit being an artist. It has been for some time ...
From: Feniksi Re: The Artist’s Heart for Art-Historians, Curators and Art-Critics A Quitting Proposal This proposal has derived from a fond desire to quit being an artist. It has been for some time ...
W4127
23.05.2011
Proposed Future - Ann Marie Webb
WWW
Architecture is the most visible sign of a society's faith and trust in the future. The ability to move forward and construct a future is greatly effected by how our views are framed. This work explores the built landscape and its affects ...
Architecture is the most visible sign of a society's faith and trust in the future. The ability to move forward and construct a future is greatly effected by how our views are framed. This work explores the built landscape and its affects ...
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 ...
W4999
30.08.2012
Fiaba - Peter Friedl
WWW
Peter Friedl Fiaba, 1997 The sisters of the previously deceased gallerist Lucio Amelio, legendary well beyond Naples, asked Friedl for a project proposal for an individual exhibition in the gallery whose fate now lay in her hands. Oriented on Neapolit ...
Peter Friedl Fiaba, 1997 The sisters of the previously deceased gallerist Lucio Amelio, legendary well beyond Naples, asked Friedl for a project proposal for an individual exhibition in the gallery whose fate now lay in her hands. Oriented on Neapolit ...
W4066
23.05.2011
Public Phones - János Sugár
WWW
My work is a public telephone located centrally in a city, or in the lobby of a public building. There is a board above the telephone on which is written: "This is a free phone, but the conversations are being recorded and published later word by word." ...
My work is a public telephone located centrally in a city, or in the lobby of a public building. There is a board above the telephone on which is written: "This is a free phone, but the conversations are being recorded and published later word by word." ...
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 ...
W4898
11.08.2012
Space and Time - Joe Sobel
WWW
In graduate school I would rearrange my studio constantly. It wasn’t until after I learned of the term tabulology, while studying The Peter Principle. It is the study of unusual arrangements of desks, workbenches, etc. with acts of habituation and repet ...
In graduate school I would rearrange my studio constantly. It wasn’t until after I learned of the term tabulology, while studying The Peter Principle. It is the study of unusual arrangements of desks, workbenches, etc. with acts of habituation and repet ...
W3540
11.05.2011
New Bridge for Dilligence  - Tomas Pecha
WWW
new bridge for dilligence beer bridge for oversitting. sitting on more chairs, oversitting from place to placeinstead of direct movement and compulsory czech beer.some ideas are thirsty.some need to be oversitted. tommorrow reality. intention of new bri ...
new bridge for dilligence beer bridge for oversitting. sitting on more chairs, oversitting from place to placeinstead of direct movement and compulsory czech beer.some ideas are thirsty.some need to be oversitted. tommorrow reality. intention of new bri ...
W5336
18.10.2012
ONE HELLUVA NIGHTMARE - Hanínga Thiel
WWW
Proposal for the Berlin Biennale 2012, ignored by curators (I got no rejection, not even a message whatsoever) ONE HELLUVA NIGHTMARE Dimensions: appr. 3 x 3 m (variable, can be adjusted accordingly to space). Living in the area around Gorleben, Nie ...
Proposal for the Berlin Biennale 2012, ignored by curators (I got no rejection, not even a message whatsoever) ONE HELLUVA NIGHTMARE Dimensions: appr. 3 x 3 m (variable, can be adjusted accordingly to space). Living in the area around Gorleben, Nie ...
W4777
02.06.2011
No Success like Failure - Daniel Permanetter
WWW
NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE “She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.” (Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/ No Limit” 1965) The work consists of two parts. One is a scaffolding construction holding approximately ...
NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE “She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.” (Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero/ No Limit” 1965) The work consists of two parts. One is a scaffolding construction holding approximately ...
W5446
20.10.2012
Tree Friendly Tree House - Kim Zalatan
WWW
Tree Friendly Tree House is a non-invasive series of steps meant to be attached to a tree to simulate the experience of a tree house. It is an interactive piece meant to allow the view to experience nature in a way they may not have before. ...
Tree Friendly Tree House is a non-invasive series of steps meant to be attached to a tree to simulate the experience of a tree house. It is an interactive piece meant to allow the view to experience nature in a way they may not have before. ...
W3730
18.05.2011
“Priceless”, a proposal - Ama Saru Hsiao Chen
WWW
A proposal for an art fair. The difference between collections initiated through private sector and public fund raises concern of artworks value. As when artwork is purchased by a collector, it automatically obtains market value for future economic act ...
A proposal for an art fair. The difference between collections initiated through private sector and public fund raises concern of artworks value. As when artwork is purchased by a collector, it automatically obtains market value for future economic act ...
U9983
01.01.1994
To Two Too; Hypothetical Monument for a Natural Disaster - Jeffrey Wisniewski
Unbuilt Roads
(222) steel, wire mesh containers, 'gitter boxes', half filled with architectural and cultural debris with other miscellaneous rubble (22) solar panels with battery bank, etc. (solar system) (6) LCD video projectors; video and live television broad ...
(222) steel, wire mesh containers, 'gitter boxes', half filled with architectural and cultural debris with other miscellaneous rubble (22) solar panels with battery bank, etc. (solar system) (6) LCD video projectors; video and live television broad ...
W4377
25.05.2011
Judith Barry
WWW
Display: Museum of Signs, 1980 Installation proposal. Shopping Mall, Palo Alto, California 1980Mnemonic devices were used to transform a working-class shopping mall into a memory palace. The use of contemporary display techniques produces numerous desi ...
Display: Museum of Signs, 1980 Installation proposal. Shopping Mall, Palo Alto, California 1980Mnemonic devices were used to transform a working-class shopping mall into a memory palace. The use of contemporary display techniques produces numerous desi ...