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.

Tower Cranes, Paris  - Tadashi Kawamata

Monument to Democracy - Kounellis

The Clock - Ayse Erkmen

Notebook Page: Home in the Form of a Banana with Garage,  - Claes Oldenburg

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

Attitudine Diplomatica - Hermann Pitz

Broadway Musicals - Christian Marclay

Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti

PROJECT FOR A COMMUNITY CENTER, AVENUE DES NARCISSES, CHENOVE - Vito Acconci

Memorial - Ilya Kabakov

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4968
22.08.2012
50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes - Greg Sholette
WWW
50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes See PDF ...
50 Unrealized Artwork Recipes See PDF ...
W4540
25.05.2011
FATHOM - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
FATHOM A PROPOSAL FOR UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES BUILDING (BMSB) Gainesville, Florida October 2008 We intend to create a work, Fathom, that is integrated within both the context and architecture of the University of Florida’s new Bi ...
FATHOM A PROPOSAL FOR UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES BUILDING (BMSB) Gainesville, Florida October 2008 We intend to create a work, Fathom, that is integrated within both the context and architecture of the University of Florida’s new Bi ...
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:// ...
W4597
25.05.2011
"IN MEMORY OF THE (UNKNOWN) VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE". - Alexander Vaindorf
WWW
"IN MEMORY OF THE (UNKNOWN) VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE". Full scale model for the monument in Gyumri, Armenia The work was shown at the Gyumri Biennale 2008 ...
"IN MEMORY OF THE (UNKNOWN) VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE". Full scale model for the monument in Gyumri, Armenia The work was shown at the Gyumri Biennale 2008 ...
U9793
01.01.1997
Isometric Projection - Sol Lewitt
Unbuilt Roads
W3851
19.05.2011
John Miserendino
WWW
a hot air balloon shaped like an inverted empire state building. ...
a hot air balloon shaped like an inverted empire state building. ...
U9711
01.01.1989
2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin
Unbuilt Roads
A competition won in 1989 Tower One: was proposed to sit in a roundabout next to the Chicago river .. 65' (feet) in height, the base an octagonal cast iron construction stands on a slightly mounded cast rubber base ... eight triangular beams thrust upw ...
A competition won in 1989 Tower One: was proposed to sit in a roundabout next to the Chicago river .. 65' (feet) in height, the base an octagonal cast iron construction stands on a slightly mounded cast rubber base ... eight triangular beams thrust upw ...
U9887
01.01.1995
MODELL OF AN OFFICE FOR A COUPLE OF TWINS, BOTH 1,38 TALL" - Tobias Rehrenberg
Unbuilt Roads
WOOD, PLASTIC, 2 CHAIRS ca 180 x 150 x 170 cm PIECE OF THE SHOW "CANCELLED PROJECTS" IN MUSEUM FRIEDERICIANUM KASSEL SUMMER 95 Previous Publications (?) NO Existing Documents (photos, drawings, models): ENCLOSED ...
WOOD, PLASTIC, 2 CHAIRS ca 180 x 150 x 170 cm PIECE OF THE SHOW "CANCELLED PROJECTS" IN MUSEUM FRIEDERICIANUM KASSEL SUMMER 95 Previous Publications (?) NO Existing Documents (photos, drawings, models): ENCLOSED ...
W4745
26.05.2011
Solar City Tower for Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics - Rafael Schmidt, RAFAA
WWW
International Architecture Competition for the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. „The project under consideration should be located in the bay of the city of Rio de Janeiro on the Cotonduba Island, which is the obligatory approach for aircraft la ...
International Architecture Competition for the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. „The project under consideration should be located in the bay of the city of Rio de Janeiro on the Cotonduba Island, which is the obligatory approach for aircraft la ...
W3499
11.05.2011
Wind Chamber - Duarte da Encarnação
WWW
wind chamber This project consists of designing an “architectural sculpture” of an active capsule intended for temporary public interventions, pragmatic and strictly related to the development of the action and participation in the public sphere. T ...
wind chamber This project consists of designing an “architectural sculpture” of an active capsule intended for temporary public interventions, pragmatic and strictly related to the development of the action and participation in the public sphere. T ...
W4203
24.05.2011
Wendy Shaw
WWW
W3682
16.05.2011
Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
WWW
Two Barges is a proposal for a pair of illuminated signs to be ferried around the island of Manhattan using the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers.   The signs will be made from panels of tungsten lightbulbs fixed to a supporting metal rig.   The letters wi ...
Two Barges is a proposal for a pair of illuminated signs to be ferried around the island of Manhattan using the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers.   The signs will be made from panels of tungsten lightbulbs fixed to a supporting metal rig.   The letters wi ...
W4511
25.05.2011
Big Pending Coloured Glass Pipe Organ - Tina Braegger
WWW
Big Pending Coloured Glass Pipe Organ (Unrealized, Mai 2011) (50m x 36m x 18m Pending Coloured Glass Pipe Organ, Uyuni salt desert, Bolivia) What (form): It has long since been an idea of mine to build a big pending pipe organ out of co ...
Big Pending Coloured Glass Pipe Organ (Unrealized, Mai 2011) (50m x 36m x 18m Pending Coloured Glass Pipe Organ, Uyuni salt desert, Bolivia) What (form): It has long since been an idea of mine to build a big pending pipe organ out of co ...
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 ...
W11063
24.06.2016
Julian Assange's Mobile Balcony Installation at 1:1 - Muhammad Shamin Sahrum
WWW
Proposal extending from Master's thesis work in architecture, titled "The Diplomatic Envelope". A research into the various case studies within embassies where overlaps of legal principles with the physical and digital territories occur. This gray area em ...
Proposal extending from Master's thesis work in architecture, titled "The Diplomatic Envelope". A research into the various case studies within embassies where overlaps of legal principles with the physical and digital territories occur. This gray area em ...
W5136
19.09.2012
Cormac McCarthy Searching - Rick Martin
WWW
CORMAC McCARTHY SEARCHING In the winter of 1999 I was artist in residence at BEMIS CCA in Omaha Nebraska. I travelled to El Paso to meet the writer Cormac McCarthy, The WWW informed me he ate breakfast at Furrs every day. At Furrs I was told they didn't. ...
CORMAC McCARTHY SEARCHING In the winter of 1999 I was artist in residence at BEMIS CCA in Omaha Nebraska. I travelled to El Paso to meet the writer Cormac McCarthy, The WWW informed me he ate breakfast at Furrs every day. At Furrs I was told they didn't. ...
W4827
07.08.2012
10 metal right angles and 3 pieces of wood - Jerstin Crosby
WWW
10 metal right angles and 3 pieces of wood Size Variable (Temporary modular public art piece that may be rearranged into any variable form by anyone.) 2001 All that remains of this unrealized modular public art concept are a few wrinkled Xerox co ...
10 metal right angles and 3 pieces of wood Size Variable (Temporary modular public art piece that may be rearranged into any variable form by anyone.) 2001 All that remains of this unrealized modular public art concept are a few wrinkled Xerox co ...
W4672
26.05.2011
Neural Portal - Stephen Pusey
WWW
Neural Portal Transient installation on 26th Street, West Chelsea, NYC Artist: Stephen Pusey The image would be created by high intensity pulses of light emitted from hundreds of lasers embedded in the frame. The effect is to create a warping field tha ...
Neural Portal Transient installation on 26th Street, West Chelsea, NYC Artist: Stephen Pusey The image would be created by high intensity pulses of light emitted from hundreds of lasers embedded in the frame. The effect is to create a warping field tha ...
W3607
13.05.2011
If you meet Buddha on the path, kill him, 2004-2011 - Shannon Bellum
WWW
Technical aspects ​This is an installation made out of suspended fabric panels going from the floor, to 7 feet high at the entrance and finishing off at 9 feet high at the center of the maze. The panels are attached to plastic tubing that is suspe ...
Technical aspects ​This is an installation made out of suspended fabric panels going from the floor, to 7 feet high at the entrance and finishing off at 9 feet high at the center of the maze. The panels are attached to plastic tubing that is suspe ...
W4134
23.05.2011
The Order of Reflections - Jerzy Olek
WWW
Jerzy Olek The Order of Reflections In former centuries in order to transpose a view onto a piece of paper draughtsmen used a frames screen divided into square sections. They observed the view through their perspective machine, and built their pictu ...
Jerzy Olek The Order of Reflections In former centuries in order to transpose a view onto a piece of paper draughtsmen used a frames screen divided into square sections. They observed the view through their perspective machine, and built their pictu ...
W4033
22.05.2011
Paintings for Satellites/Chicago - Molly Dilworth
WWW
A project fully conceived but never manifest, 2010 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 agen ...
A project fully conceived but never manifest, 2010 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 agen ...
W4600
25.05.2011
INVESTIGATION2 - SASCHA MIKLOWEIT
WWW
SASCHA MIKLOWEIT Unrealized project for a public transport or railway station Title: INVESTIGATION2 INTRODUCTION INVESTIGATION2 is the continuation of my field research project which started 2010 with INVESTIGATION1 (for detailed material regarding ...
SASCHA MIKLOWEIT Unrealized project for a public transport or railway station Title: INVESTIGATION2 INTRODUCTION INVESTIGATION2 is the continuation of my field research project which started 2010 with INVESTIGATION1 (for detailed material regarding ...
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 ...
W10982
24.12.2015
Notes Toward a Temple - The Legacy
WWW
This proposal seeks to confront problems in the disciplines of art and architecture in an ecological age. (1) Our infrastructure and aesthetic culture does not attune itself to the ever present crisis of nuclear waste, the bi-product of nuclear energy, wh ...
This proposal seeks to confront problems in the disciplines of art and architecture in an ecological age. (1) Our infrastructure and aesthetic culture does not attune itself to the ever present crisis of nuclear waste, the bi-product of nuclear energy, wh ...
W4259
24.05.2011
Why leave the shelter? - Arcady Kotler
WWW
Why leave the shelter? (The Tale of the construction of my shell) I don’t even remember when construction of the shelter started, but it happened somehow unnoticeably. When I was young it was nothing like a fortress, but just big opened space with e ...
Why leave the shelter? (The Tale of the construction of my shell) I don’t even remember when construction of the shelter started, but it happened somehow unnoticeably. When I was young it was nothing like a fortress, but just big opened space with e ...
W4329
24.05.2011
Nicolau Tudela
WWW
This unfinished work was an installation based on the deficiency of the author. The base of the conception was in fact his right arm and it would reflect the, some what, painful and discomfort feelings that the author felt and feels about and with it. The ...
This unfinished work was an installation based on the deficiency of the author. The base of the conception was in fact his right arm and it would reflect the, some what, painful and discomfort feelings that the author felt and feels about and with it. The ...