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.

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

The World is a Theater and we each have a role - Louise Bourgeois

Projets non réalisés: - Daniel Buren

Project pour le parc de sculpture de Vassiviére - Paul-Armand Gette

Aguapracasa - Gabriel Orozco

2 Architecture Towers - Robert Irwin

Niemandsland - Hans Haacke

Relatum (Iron Plate and Stone) - Lee Ufan

Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman

NON REALIZED PROJECTS - Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4563
25.05.2011
darius
WWW
Well, I do not know nevertheless I tend to imagine it being not. As for me, life seems to be a continuous experience. I suppose, if you’re only interested in the individual – arguably a rather crude segregation. But isn’t it also true ...
Well, I do not know nevertheless I tend to imagine it being not. As for me, life seems to be a continuous experience. I suppose, if you’re only interested in the individual – arguably a rather crude segregation. But isn’t it also true ...
W4678
26.05.2011
Two Propositions for Participation and One Prognostication  - Mel Chin
WWW
Two Propositions for Participation and One Prognostication (One Page of) Preparatory Notes: Ask the least, so the most can be included. As a scriptor, conceive parts the performers (the participants) can easily follow yet allow them to understand how th ...
Two Propositions for Participation and One Prognostication (One Page of) Preparatory Notes: Ask the least, so the most can be included. As a scriptor, conceive parts the performers (the participants) can easily follow yet allow them to understand how th ...
W4384
25.05.2011
Baiju Parthan
WWW
'SYNCYTIUM / COSMOPOLIS' (An unrealized project from 2008 ) The project is an attempt to suggest that 'identity' is not a monolithic immutable asset, but a very granular and dynamic feedback system, a ceaseless process that continually emit and absor ...
'SYNCYTIUM / COSMOPOLIS' (An unrealized project from 2008 ) The project is an attempt to suggest that 'identity' is not a monolithic immutable asset, but a very granular and dynamic feedback system, a ceaseless process that continually emit and absor ...
W4253
24.05.2011
Minute of Power  - Arcady Kotler
WWW
Arcady Kotler Minute of Power The project Minute of Power is an interactive installation inviting viewers to stand on top of a watchtower to observe their surroundings through the scope a rifle. In this work I investigate how the experience of hand ...
Arcady Kotler Minute of Power The project Minute of Power is an interactive installation inviting viewers to stand on top of a watchtower to observe their surroundings through the scope a rifle. In this work I investigate how the experience of hand ...
W4311
24.05.2011
A contemporary folk dance  - Adam Lewin
WWW
A contemporary folk dance with mobility scooters. It has been a long tog time dream of mine to do a choreographed performance of the handicapped utilizing mobility scooters whilst filming it overhead in the style of a Busby Berkeley film. ...
A contemporary folk dance with mobility scooters. It has been a long tog time dream of mine to do a choreographed performance of the handicapped utilizing mobility scooters whilst filming it overhead in the style of a Busby Berkeley film. ...
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 ...
U9779
01.01.1988
Relatum (Iron Plate and Stone) - Lee Ufan
Unbuilt Roads
Four natural stones are evenly places around an iron plate, facing each other. As the iron plate is buried one meter below the ground, only the four stones are visible to the viewer. The absence of the iron plate is indicated by a title sign which ind ...
Four natural stones are evenly places around an iron plate, facing each other. As the iron plate is buried one meter below the ground, only the four stones are visible to the viewer. The absence of the iron plate is indicated by a title sign which ind ...
W5262
13.10.2012
Seeing the Unseen - Maria Paschalidou
WWW
maria Paschalidou artist, art professor www.mariapaschalidou.com paschalmari@yahoo.com Athens, October 13, 2012 Seeing the Unseen Seeing the Unseen is an ongoing project of tracing the ‘unseen’, the most invisible and/or unobserved sites of an ...
maria Paschalidou artist, art professor www.mariapaschalidou.com paschalmari@yahoo.com Athens, October 13, 2012 Seeing the Unseen Seeing the Unseen is an ongoing project of tracing the ‘unseen’, the most invisible and/or unobserved sites of an ...
W5343
18.10.2012
Unrealized project proposal for AUP  - Lito Kattou & Leontios Toumpouris
WWW
Unrealized project proposal for AUP Willing to continue investigating our relationship with natural components of the environment and expanding the development of the project in progress “Untitled dualism”, it would be a matter of great interest f ...
Unrealized project proposal for AUP Willing to continue investigating our relationship with natural components of the environment and expanding the development of the project in progress “Untitled dualism”, it would be a matter of great interest f ...
W4254
24.05.2011
Jim Foster
WWW
JIM FOSTER 10315 N. County Rd. 15 • Fort Collins CO 80524 • USA 970.568.7768 fostart.jimart@gmail.com Museum Exhibitions/Selected 2010 - Fukuoka Asian Art Museum: Fukuoka, Japan. World Peace Through Art: Matsuda Bokuden & H ...
JIM FOSTER 10315 N. County Rd. 15 • Fort Collins CO 80524 • USA 970.568.7768 fostart.jimart@gmail.com Museum Exhibitions/Selected 2010 - Fukuoka Asian Art Museum: Fukuoka, Japan. World Peace Through Art: Matsuda Bokuden & H ...
W5090
10.09.2012
Glass Drummers Pavilion - Olivia Booth
WWW
Call for Unrealized Projects Olivia Booth September, 2012 oabooth@yahoo.com www.oliviabooth.net GLASS DRUMMERS PAVILION This repositionable glass drummer's pavilion is meant to latch on to the ground level of any international style ...
Call for Unrealized Projects Olivia Booth September, 2012 oabooth@yahoo.com www.oliviabooth.net GLASS DRUMMERS PAVILION This repositionable glass drummer's pavilion is meant to latch on to the ground level of any international style ...
W4485
25.05.2011
transients - rubens mano
WWW
transients, 1997 a good proportion of the images produced up to now reveals the search for some kind of relationship with the sky, and result in a set of actions which allows us to understand how we perceive it and react to its activities – f ...
transients, 1997 a good proportion of the images produced up to now reveals the search for some kind of relationship with the sky, and result in a set of actions which allows us to understand how we perceive it and react to its activities – f ...
W4217
24.05.2011
24 hours Suicide  - Costa Vece
WWW
24 hours Suicide von Costa Vece für Art Unlimited Basel 2003 24 hours Suicide: Das Wort Suicide (Selbstmord) wird temporär auf das grösste Gebäude der Schweiz, den Messeturm in Basel, während der Art Basel ‘03 angebracht. Der Mes ...
24 hours Suicide von Costa Vece für Art Unlimited Basel 2003 24 hours Suicide: Das Wort Suicide (Selbstmord) wird temporär auf das grösste Gebäude der Schweiz, den Messeturm in Basel, während der Art Basel ‘03 angebracht. Der Mes ...
W4170
24.05.2011
BASIC STRATEGIES - Ana Sucena, Claudia Costa, Pedro Guerra
WWW
BASIC STRATEGIES Our project aims the recognition of how natural, historic, and community cycles work, and uses these aspects to emphasize our design and the technical solutions we have chosen. The house is positioned on the lot in a way that allows e ...
BASIC STRATEGIES Our project aims the recognition of how natural, historic, and community cycles work, and uses these aspects to emphasize our design and the technical solutions we have chosen. The house is positioned on the lot in a way that allows e ...
D10800
06.09.2012
An unrealized interview - Nico Dockx
DAAD
Since my first meeting with Hans Ulrich Obrist on 15.03.2002 in his office at the Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris -talking together about new kinds of slowness…- we tried for almost 10 years to go and visit the Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulo ...
Since my first meeting with Hans Ulrich Obrist on 15.03.2002 in his office at the Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris -talking together about new kinds of slowness…- we tried for almost 10 years to go and visit the Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulo ...
W4095
23.05.2011
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013 - Stefano W. Pasquini
WWW
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013. As the political times have changed after 911, even my Unrealizeable Projects reflected this change. This one plays with the difficulties foreigners face when trying to move to the United States nowadays. ...
UNREALIZEABLE PROJECT A000013. As the political times have changed after 911, even my Unrealizeable Projects reflected this change. This one plays with the difficulties foreigners face when trying to move to the United States nowadays. ...
W4634
25.05.2011
Working for the Revolution. - Romulo Banares
WWW
Working for the Revolution. This project consists in working for the Revolution, with small actions, small changes, words. All artists work in some kind of misunderstood revolution around some personal or collective utopia. Revolution is a work in prog ...
Working for the Revolution. This project consists in working for the Revolution, with small actions, small changes, words. All artists work in some kind of misunderstood revolution around some personal or collective utopia. Revolution is a work in prog ...
W5162
25.09.2012
Heather Lewis
WWW
An installation that mimics the rising and setting of the sun, condensed to perhaps 5 minutes – a lamp moving in a 30 ft arc (15 ft radius). It shows the effects of variable light and therefore shadows, on various objects and situations. ...
An installation that mimics the rising and setting of the sun, condensed to perhaps 5 minutes – a lamp moving in a 30 ft arc (15 ft radius). It shows the effects of variable light and therefore shadows, on various objects and situations. ...
W3661
15.05.2011
Efrat Kedem
WWW
Project description All over the world there are bus stops, They serves us as buildings for a fleeting moment, a man passes them and wait some time before the bus arrives, then, continues on his way, We stand or sit in stations for a few minutes, some ...
Project description All over the world there are bus stops, They serves us as buildings for a fleeting moment, a man passes them and wait some time before the bus arrives, then, continues on his way, We stand or sit in stations for a few minutes, some ...
W10370
17.04.2014
Redshift - Gabriel Rico
WWW
The proposal entitled "REDSHIFT" is a in situ-installation specific designed to mind all of the space of 'The Soap Factory' (12,000 sq feet) this installation course will function as a space within in another space, a place that feels like a corpuscular-o ...
The proposal entitled "REDSHIFT" is a in situ-installation specific designed to mind all of the space of 'The Soap Factory' (12,000 sq feet) this installation course will function as a space within in another space, a place that feels like a corpuscular-o ...
W3582
13.05.2011
Umfassung (verborgen) - Sabine Hagmann
WWW
Idee Der Perimeter des St. Johanns-Platz wird während einem Jahr exakt mit einer zweieinhalb Meter hohen Wand eingefasst. Sie schliesst das ganze Gelände ein, mit Rasen, Wegen und Parkbänken. Die kleine Rasenfläche wird durch die Wand als Volu ...
Idee Der Perimeter des St. Johanns-Platz wird während einem Jahr exakt mit einer zweieinhalb Meter hohen Wand eingefasst. Sie schliesst das ganze Gelände ein, mit Rasen, Wegen und Parkbänken. Die kleine Rasenfläche wird durch die Wand als Volu ...
W4218
24.05.2011
Costa Vece
WWW
Egregio Signor Costa Vece, come annunciatole, le comunico qui di seguito le ragioni che ci hanno indotto a rinunciare all’affissione della sua opera sulla torretta dell’Istituto e a proporle, in alternativa, altri spazi all’interno o nel parco ...
Egregio Signor Costa Vece, come annunciatole, le comunico qui di seguito le ragioni che ci hanno indotto a rinunciare all’affissione della sua opera sulla torretta dell’Istituto e a proporle, in alternativa, altri spazi all’interno o nel parco ...
W4406
25.05.2011
Incongruous Runaway Homes, to run away with or to run to. - Eleanna Horiti
WWW
Incongruous Runaway Homes, to run away with or to run to. A formulation of childhood visions The Runaway Roulotte was to be made of wooden planks and mud! A bicycle wheel with pedals attached to it and cart wheels. Its most important feature was tha ...
Incongruous Runaway Homes, to run away with or to run to. A formulation of childhood visions The Runaway Roulotte was to be made of wooden planks and mud! A bicycle wheel with pedals attached to it and cart wheels. Its most important feature was tha ...
W5448
20.10.2012
BUILDING DRAWING I: “THE LITTLE EASE” - Ann Daly
WWW
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING I: “THE LITTLE EASE” Room within a room within a room. Smallest internal room is a plywood box, upright, approx. 6.5 ft tall and 3ft. wide. This internal box is drilled with 'viewholes' at various po ...
Ann Daly adaly@aya.yale.edu BUILDING DRAWING I: “THE LITTLE EASE” Room within a room within a room. Smallest internal room is a plywood box, upright, approx. 6.5 ft tall and 3ft. wide. This internal box is drilled with 'viewholes' at various po ...
W4232
24.05.2011
Framing al-Zarqawi - Nicholas Knight
WWW
Nicholas Knight Framing al-Zarqawi, 2006 Mixed media installation, including framed photographs, podium, US and Iraqi flags, rugs, easels, curtain, furniture, etc. Size determined by installation [never realized] In June 2006, US-led forces in Ir ...
Nicholas Knight Framing al-Zarqawi, 2006 Mixed media installation, including framed photographs, podium, US and Iraqi flags, rugs, easels, curtain, furniture, etc. Size determined by installation [never realized] In June 2006, US-led forces in Ir ...
W3752
18.05.2011
Proposal for an Art-Science cooperation for solar lighting a Lebanese village - roula sorour
WWW
My project was a proposal to light up a village in Lebanon using solar power in cooperation with a local University. My proposal was hurried and could have been written better. I never did receive a reply to my proposal. From: Roula Sorour <r@roula ...
My project was a proposal to light up a village in Lebanon using solar power in cooperation with a local University. My proposal was hurried and could have been written better. I never did receive a reply to my proposal. From: Roula Sorour <r@roula ...