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.

Placid Earth: A Project for the Meeting of Millennia - Cai Guo Quiang

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

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

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

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

My House - Uri Tzaig

AUSSICHTSTURM, HOLZHAUS (WOHNHAUS), SCHWIMMBECKEN, FREIE FAHRT - Maria Eichhorn

Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas

Catwalk - Sylive Fleury

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W5247
10.10.2012
Iain McPherson
WWW
Project: Create art work for a series of bus shelters (P-Stops) in Perm, Russia. Work must be strong enough to compete with graffiti. One panel (not shown) was accepted for the project. The last email I had said that this had been delayed to due fin ...
Project: Create art work for a series of bus shelters (P-Stops) in Perm, Russia. Work must be strong enough to compete with graffiti. One panel (not shown) was accepted for the project. The last email I had said that this had been delayed to due fin ...
W3839
19.05.2011
La Burqa Project. - Lode Kuylenstierna
WWW
La Burqa Parapluie:
Poster: 59,4 cm × 42 cm 
Copyright Lode Kuylenstierna 2011 La Burqa Taxi:
Poster: 42 cm × 59,4 cm 
Copyright Lode Kuylenstierna 2011 La Burqa Bandage:
Poster: 42 cm × 59,4 cm 
Copyright Lode Kuylenstierna 2011 T ...
La Burqa Parapluie:
Poster: 59,4 cm × 42 cm 
Copyright Lode Kuylenstierna 2011 La Burqa Taxi:
Poster: 42 cm × 59,4 cm 
Copyright Lode Kuylenstierna 2011 La Burqa Bandage:
Poster: 42 cm × 59,4 cm 
Copyright Lode Kuylenstierna 2011 T ...
W5309
17.10.2012
Believe Me, It’s not for Real - NaoKo TakaHashi
WWW
This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hypnotised to experience a false memory. Description: This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hyp ...
This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hypnotised to experience a false memory. Description: This project is to dress the entire serpentine Gallery in circus tents and invite visitors to be hyp ...
W10410
07.04.2014
Reverse Lecture Series - VIIIC KEER OSSTTAPPPH
WWW
During the reverse lecture series, there will be one audience member as everyone else simultaneously delivers a speech from behind a lectern. ...
During the reverse lecture series, there will be one audience member as everyone else simultaneously delivers a speech from behind a lectern. ...
W4659
25.05.2011
Correspondence. - Mark Rowan-Hull
WWW
Correspondence. Hearing /Vision. 2010. I am a visual artist who works mostly live in performance with Music. This work has evolved partly through my own joint practice as an artist and musician and through my own unique experience of seeing music and ...
Correspondence. Hearing /Vision. 2010. I am a visual artist who works mostly live in performance with Music. This work has evolved partly through my own joint practice as an artist and musician and through my own unique experience of seeing music and ...
W4916
15.08.2012
Phobos self-degradation  - Toby Huddlestone
WWW
Toby Huddlestone Unrealised Proposal Phobos self-degradation – the artist sends a form of self-degrading archival document (time-capsule) to the Mars moon Phobos. Stickney crater, Phobos. Imaged by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, March 23, 2008. ...
Toby Huddlestone Unrealised Proposal Phobos self-degradation – the artist sends a form of self-degrading archival document (time-capsule) to the Mars moon Phobos. Stickney crater, Phobos. Imaged by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, March 23, 2008. ...
W5419
20.10.2012
UTOPIAS ARE FOR BIRDS - Alvaro Urbano
WWW
UTOPIAS ARE FOR BIRDS 2012 - Ongoing Utopia is a non-place, a good-place. Utopia is defined as an idyllic society with a legal system and socio-political ideals, a society living in harmony, between geographical dislocation and intellectual positivi ...
UTOPIAS ARE FOR BIRDS 2012 - Ongoing Utopia is a non-place, a good-place. Utopia is defined as an idyllic society with a legal system and socio-political ideals, a society living in harmony, between geographical dislocation and intellectual positivi ...
W4693
26.05.2011
a flower every day - Nina Meledandri
WWW
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
a flower every day was a multi-media response to Marina Abramovic’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective and performance piece: The Artist Is Present (March 14-May 31 2010). It remains an unfinished project i often respond to the work of others, not ...
W3744
18.05.2011
IP Address-Visa Line - Alejandro Ramirez
WWW
http://rw045.wordpress.com/     Abstract. 
I remember several science fiction movies in which planes and ships mysteriously disappeared while reaching specific coordinates; their physical presence was gone. Some times radio signals where able to ...
http://rw045.wordpress.com/     Abstract. 
I remember several science fiction movies in which planes and ships mysteriously disappeared while reaching specific coordinates; their physical presence was gone. Some times radio signals where able to ...
W5284
16.10.2012
Natalia Ludmila
WWW
The project was based on the realisation of a certain number of dérives throughout the city-state of Singapore, in which an extensive visual and sound documentation would be carried out. This material consecutively was to be used to reconstruct the ci ...
The project was based on the realisation of a certain number of dérives throughout the city-state of Singapore, in which an extensive visual and sound documentation would be carried out. This material consecutively was to be used to reconstruct the ci ...
W4044
22.05.2011
Annie Wu & Ziga Testen
WWW
The project we have in mind begins with a little anecdote. Upon a chance meeting with Australian geometric abstraction painter John Nixon (1949) in the Netherlands, a thorough conversation revolving around a discontinued line of an Ikea table was brought ...
The project we have in mind begins with a little anecdote. Upon a chance meeting with Australian geometric abstraction painter John Nixon (1949) in the Netherlands, a thorough conversation revolving around a discontinued line of an Ikea table was brought ...
W4547
25.05.2011
ICONIC VIRTUALITY - Peter Dyson/THE ALTERMODERN GROUP
WWW
ICONIC VIRTUALITY Uluru, the World Heritage-listed site in central Australia has been a spiritual icon for the indigenous people of the island continent for over 60,000 years and a focus for white man’s tourism for a mere 160 years. It is a formida ...
ICONIC VIRTUALITY Uluru, the World Heritage-listed site in central Australia has been a spiritual icon for the indigenous people of the island continent for over 60,000 years and a focus for white man’s tourism for a mere 160 years. It is a formida ...
W4724
26.05.2011
Transylvanian Pavilion  - horea
WWW
Transylvanian Pavilion Two proposals that requested the “presence” of a temporary pavilion representing Transylvania at the Venice Biannual. The first one was addressed to Professor Bonito-Oliva in 1993 and the second was addressed to Francesco ...
Transylvanian Pavilion Two proposals that requested the “presence” of a temporary pavilion representing Transylvania at the Venice Biannual. The first one was addressed to Professor Bonito-Oliva in 1993 and the second was addressed to Francesco ...
W4319
24.05.2011
(Twitter Carrier Pigeon) - seth marshall weiner
WWW
(Social Networking Utilities and the Argument for Physical Space (Twitter Carrier Pigeon) As social networking utilities continue to provide open forums for users to communicate, protest and organize, they lack the necessity for a physical space. T ...
(Social Networking Utilities and the Argument for Physical Space (Twitter Carrier Pigeon) As social networking utilities continue to provide open forums for users to communicate, protest and organize, they lack the necessity for a physical space. T ...
W4379
25.05.2011
“Shifting Images of Marseille”  - Srinivas Mangipudi
WWW
Project Proposal: “Shifting Images of Marseille” The urban city areas are often filled with cars and vehicles of all kinds parked in different places, like parking lots, on the streets, or just moving on the road. These can be turned into dynamic ...
Project Proposal: “Shifting Images of Marseille” The urban city areas are often filled with cars and vehicles of all kinds parked in different places, like parking lots, on the streets, or just moving on the road. These can be turned into dynamic ...
W3775
18.05.2011
Repo Jet’ - Caitlin Berrigan
WWW
Archive of Unrealized Projects 18 May 2011 Dear AUP: I hope you will consider including ‘Repo Jet’ in your Archive of Unrealized Projects. Although I currently lack (and am seeking) the resources to complete it, the project is within the realms of r ...
Archive of Unrealized Projects 18 May 2011 Dear AUP: I hope you will consider including ‘Repo Jet’ in your Archive of Unrealized Projects. Although I currently lack (and am seeking) the resources to complete it, the project is within the realms of r ...
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:// ...
W5024
31.08.2012
Generali Project - Omri Livne
WWW
Generali Project. Generali Project is a project I started to develop this year in Vienna, Austria and transferred to Jerusalem, I eventually fitted it to the needs of Jerusalem, Israel. The project is in format of a lecture or projected presentation as ...
Generali Project. Generali Project is a project I started to develop this year in Vienna, Austria and transferred to Jerusalem, I eventually fitted it to the needs of Jerusalem, Israel. The project is in format of a lecture or projected presentation as ...
W4448
25.05.2011
Minaret Project - Joanna Rajkowska
WWW
Minaret Project ‘What is absolutely crucial for me is the relationship between the work, a real work in real space, and the body. One can hardly discuss a project’s impact on the public sphere if the project is not physically there, if everyone onl ...
Minaret Project ‘What is absolutely crucial for me is the relationship between the work, a real work in real space, and the body. One can hardly discuss a project’s impact on the public sphere if the project is not physically there, if everyone onl ...
W4568
25.05.2011
"Wire Tap"  - Dianne Bowen and Heins Kim
WWW
"Wire Tap" physical study I, 2008 2,500 steel dress pins, 200 feet heavy gauge copper phone wire, 150 feet steel elevator cable, 5 canvas panels, roughly 4,000 feet of varied data and thin phone wire, 200 feet plastic IV tubing, plastic bubbles, astr ...
"Wire Tap" physical study I, 2008 2,500 steel dress pins, 200 feet heavy gauge copper phone wire, 150 feet steel elevator cable, 5 canvas panels, roughly 4,000 feet of varied data and thin phone wire, 200 feet plastic IV tubing, plastic bubbles, astr ...
W4276
24.05.2011
Proposal for the New Jersey State Aquarium - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
Proposal for the New Jersey State Aquarium Camden, New Jersey ...
Proposal for the New Jersey State Aquarium Camden, New Jersey ...
W4299
24.05.2011
Polished Concrete (the dissolution of the work into its reflected conditions) - Ian Skedd
WWW
Polished Concrete (the dissolution of the work into its reflected conditions) • Prior to the opening of an exhibition, the concrete floor of a gallery space will be treated with a chemical densifier and sanded with progressively finer grinding tool ...
Polished Concrete (the dissolution of the work into its reflected conditions) • Prior to the opening of an exhibition, the concrete floor of a gallery space will be treated with a chemical densifier and sanded with progressively finer grinding tool ...
W4210
24.05.2011
Way of the Closs - Branko Mejač
WWW
Presenting to you my nees project" Way of the Closs" which war taking shape from 1996 to 2003. Project was chosen for exhibition in a gallery "Family" in Ljubljana (Slovenia), but it was later turned down without any official explanation. Fourteen Stati ...
Presenting to you my nees project" Way of the Closs" which war taking shape from 1996 to 2003. Project was chosen for exhibition in a gallery "Family" in Ljubljana (Slovenia), but it was later turned down without any official explanation. Fourteen Stati ...
W5114
17.09.2012
Marlaina Eldey
WWW
Sorry for placing my picture in the Text Document place, i have been trying to delete it and it will not respond..... The first image is one I never did finish. It began as a doodle that I created in the midst of a deep depression. I call the doodle, ...
Sorry for placing my picture in the Text Document place, i have been trying to delete it and it will not respond..... The first image is one I never did finish. It began as a doodle that I created in the midst of a deep depression. I call the doodle, ...
W4143
23.05.2011
Brighton Seafront Public Art Commission - Cornford & Cross
WWW
Our proposal for the ‘Brighton Seafront Public Art Commission’ took as a starting point the representation, myth and collective memory of Brighton, England, as a Bank Holiday destination for displays of public disorder by rival gangs of ‘Mods’ and ...
Our proposal for the ‘Brighton Seafront Public Art Commission’ took as a starting point the representation, myth and collective memory of Brighton, England, as a Bank Holiday destination for displays of public disorder by rival gangs of ‘Mods’ and ...
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 ...