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.

Catwalk - Sylive Fleury

A FAIRLY TALL TOWER, 48,000 Miles High -  - Siah Armajani

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

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

The Clock - Ayse Erkmen

Post Photographic apparatus - Steven Pippin

KEEPING IN TOUCH - Allan Kaprow

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

The World Record - General Idea

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W10475
27.04.2014
Archive of Forgotten Ideas - Cecilia Guida and 42 contributors
WWW
Sometimes we have ideas that we like but for rational, emotional or practical reasons we think they won’t work out or we aren’t able to develop them at that moment. Consequently we keep them apart, “hide” them somewhere in a peripheral and little ...
Sometimes we have ideas that we like but for rational, emotional or practical reasons we think they won’t work out or we aren’t able to develop them at that moment. Consequently we keep them apart, “hide” them somewhere in a peripheral and little ...
W4124
23.05.2011
Here/There - Matthew Slaats
WWW
Here/There Matthew Slaats Project Proposal Here/There is a virtual 3D exploration of the spatial, temporal, economic and physical relationships between environments in North and South America. Project Description Here/There aims to illustr ...
Here/There Matthew Slaats Project Proposal Here/There is a virtual 3D exploration of the spatial, temporal, economic and physical relationships between environments in North and South America. Project Description Here/There aims to illustr ...
W4874
09.08.2012
Kseniya
WWW
W4306
24.05.2011
LOVE IS IN THE AIR - Zilvinas Kempinas + Architect Bettina Zerza
WWW
LOVE IS IN THE AIR Im Jahr 1960 beschrieb Neil Armstrong, der erste Mensch auf dem Mond, aus dem Fenster seines Raumschiffs die Erde als „eine große blaue Murmel“. Ort Die Fluggastbrücke ist ein O ...
LOVE IS IN THE AIR Im Jahr 1960 beschrieb Neil Armstrong, der erste Mensch auf dem Mond, aus dem Fenster seines Raumschiffs die Erde als „eine große blaue Murmel“. Ort Die Fluggastbrücke ist ein O ...
W5441
20.10.2012
Sp@rt - Mo Abd-Ulla
WWW
Sp@rt is a multifaceted programme set within inspiration of London 2012 Olympic games. It consists of urban interventions within the city of London, exhibition, performances, lectures, discussions, and new techniques for mediating the public’s reactions ...
Sp@rt is a multifaceted programme set within inspiration of London 2012 Olympic games. It consists of urban interventions within the city of London, exhibition, performances, lectures, discussions, and new techniques for mediating the public’s reactions ...
W5055
03.09.2012
School in Berriozar - Taller Basico de Arquitectura [TBA]
WWW
School in Berriozar (2008) The building offers a unified image according to its public condition. This image is based on the sum of modular elements that respond to the program. The proposal provides a reference image inside Berriozar's residential are ...
School in Berriozar (2008) The building offers a unified image according to its public condition. This image is based on the sum of modular elements that respond to the program. The proposal provides a reference image inside Berriozar's residential are ...
W4978
24.08.2012
Let it Flow - David Borawski
WWW
Proposal for ANTI festival Let It Flow, 2008 Proposed for the RÖNÖ Bridge site. I would enlist local residents and any interested parties to be participants in the project. The group meets at beginning end of bridge. Each person is given a re ...
Proposal for ANTI festival Let It Flow, 2008 Proposed for the RÖNÖ Bridge site. I would enlist local residents and any interested parties to be participants in the project. The group meets at beginning end of bridge. Each person is given a re ...
W4516
25.05.2011
Viktor Timofeev
WWW
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
In this painting I have "created" a triumphal arch constructed out of 13 worker-housing units, stacked precariously and defying the laws of physics. While this village/monument is rendered to appear structurally sound, its context is most certainly utopia ...
W3757
18.05.2011
hotel de la gloria - Ivo Bonacorsi
WWW
hotel de la gloria an hotel &resort for artists ...
hotel de la gloria an hotel &resort for artists ...
W4569
25.05.2011
Giraffe  - Eduardo Villanueva
WWW
Giraffe A film idea by Eduardo Villanueva. The main idea depart from one story to creat another one. The piece is simple and consist in release a Giraffe in the streets of Venice, Italy and make a film with the Giraffe interacting with the people and ...
Giraffe A film idea by Eduardo Villanueva. The main idea depart from one story to creat another one. The piece is simple and consist in release a Giraffe in the streets of Venice, Italy and make a film with the Giraffe interacting with the people and ...
W4368
25.05.2011
Qi.ng
WWW
Title: Importance of some Note Medium: 12 x 8" Digital capture of graphite on 3 x 3" scrap paper ...
Title: Importance of some Note Medium: 12 x 8" Digital capture of graphite on 3 x 3" scrap paper ...
W5095
12.09.2012
(un)realized words - Kathryn Hummel
WWW
(un)realized words Kathryn Hummel (un)realized words is an installation combining photographs and paper objects (used and new) to form an interactive work out of a variety of incomplete/in-progress elements. I do not recall at what age I first began ...
(un)realized words Kathryn Hummel (un)realized words is an installation combining photographs and paper objects (used and new) to form an interactive work out of a variety of incomplete/in-progress elements. I do not recall at what age I first began ...
W4648
25.05.2011
NATURE CAN ALL  - Urssa Severa
WWW
NATURE CAN ALL A Land art project by Urssa Severa A land art project that aims to interrogate Nature as a representative of God´s masterpiece about its own contradictions. Intervention #1 A symbolist or abstract approach will be proposed, where two phr ...
NATURE CAN ALL A Land art project by Urssa Severa A land art project that aims to interrogate Nature as a representative of God´s masterpiece about its own contradictions. Intervention #1 A symbolist or abstract approach will be proposed, where two phr ...
W3545
12.05.2011
GOLDEN - Deanne Butterworth
WWW
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
GOLDEN My investigations in dance stem from how an audience views a dancing body through their construction of narrative. GOLDEN will setup parameters for a narrative to exist in, but will not necessarily decide what the narrative shall be. It is not ...
W5214
06.10.2012
Pentahedrices - Stephen Da Lay
WWW
Stephen M. Da Lay has met the requirements for the Marjorie Schiele Prize. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1989, and his work has been shown nationally and internationally. Stephen’s work has been exhibited at 2nd Penang I ...
Stephen M. Da Lay has met the requirements for the Marjorie Schiele Prize. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1989, and his work has been shown nationally and internationally. Stephen’s work has been exhibited at 2nd Penang I ...
W4527
25.05.2011
Sculpture Installation - Jaime Szczepanski
WWW
Proposal 3: Sculpture Installation Location: Convention Center Boulevard, Canal Boulevard For this project, two standard bus stop shelters will be installed in two locations. The appearance, dimensions and scale of these awnings will match those seen ...
Proposal 3: Sculpture Installation Location: Convention Center Boulevard, Canal Boulevard For this project, two standard bus stop shelters will be installed in two locations. The appearance, dimensions and scale of these awnings will match those seen ...
W4960
20.08.2012
Exit - Darko Aleksovski
WWW
Darko Aleksovski Name of the project: EXIT participatory and research art project EXIT is a series of interventions in open, public space that can be anywhere except the space of organized walking (main streets, boulevards, city squares etc). The ...
Darko Aleksovski Name of the project: EXIT participatory and research art project EXIT is a series of interventions in open, public space that can be anywhere except the space of organized walking (main streets, boulevards, city squares etc). The ...
W5184
30.09.2012
Relative Music - Augustin Maurs
WWW
RELATIVE MUSIC An unrealized economy, by Augustin Maurs À propos unrealized projects, it could be amusing to consider that, in the perspective of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, almost the totality of the music written in the western cultures f ...
RELATIVE MUSIC An unrealized economy, by Augustin Maurs À propos unrealized projects, it could be amusing to consider that, in the perspective of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, almost the totality of the music written in the western cultures f ...
W5320
18.10.2012
Strike Nº0 - Thiago Parizi
WWW
05.2010 The project entitled “Strike Nº0” is composed of a group of helium balloons attached to the handle of a shovel, floating it above the ground. Suspending it until the object is brought again to the floor given the slight leaking of the heli ...
05.2010 The project entitled “Strike Nº0” is composed of a group of helium balloons attached to the handle of a shovel, floating it above the ground. Suspending it until the object is brought again to the floor given the slight leaking of the heli ...
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 ...
W3693
16.05.2011
Liza Eurich
WWW
STATEMENT Liza Eurich / 2011.05.16 My current studio practice in engaged in a critical inquiry that considers how failure might be defined in a capacity that extends beyond its utilization as a category of judgment. Rather, failure functions alternati ...
STATEMENT Liza Eurich / 2011.05.16 My current studio practice in engaged in a critical inquiry that considers how failure might be defined in a capacity that extends beyond its utilization as a category of judgment. Rather, failure functions alternati ...
W5005
30.08.2012
Hanover House - Peter Friedl
WWW
Peter Friedl, Hanover House, 2003 Proposal for Hanover 5 inkjet prints, 100 x 133 cm each Hanover House (2003) Treehouses are common images and objects of desire for individualism, dropping out, childhood, being in tune with nature, self-determin ...
Peter Friedl, Hanover House, 2003 Proposal for Hanover 5 inkjet prints, 100 x 133 cm each Hanover House (2003) Treehouses are common images and objects of desire for individualism, dropping out, childhood, being in tune with nature, self-determin ...
W4697
26.05.2011
The Bastard Academy - Jon Rubin
WWW
The Bastard Academy public project for Stanford University and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (unrealized) A think tank about a think tank. The Bastard Academy is a site and situation for research about Stanford University's right-wing think ...
The Bastard Academy public project for Stanford University and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (unrealized) A think tank about a think tank. The Bastard Academy is a site and situation for research about Stanford University's right-wing think ...
W4340
24.05.2011
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? - Cristina Cambiganu
WWW
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? The idea, which has been in my drawer of dreams for over 10 years, intend to insert a graft on the saxophone. Precisely, the project intended to r ...
Violin making; the neck or ‘chiver’ of the saxophone made of porcelain; will ceramic sound different? The idea, which has been in my drawer of dreams for over 10 years, intend to insert a graft on the saxophone. Precisely, the project intended to r ...
W4502
25.05.2011
Olga Yvons
WWW
My Modern Life The multimedia project explores the real existences of young people in Latvia and their search for individuality. ...
My Modern Life The multimedia project explores the real existences of young people in Latvia and their search for individuality. ...
W4508
25.05.2011
American Flag Kits - Paula Stuttman
WWW
American Flag Kits During the summer of 1998 I completed 20 American Flag Kits. What fascinates me about flags (and this goes for any country’s flag) is the object itself is nothing but colored cloth arranged into a snappy design. It is human investm ...
American Flag Kits During the summer of 1998 I completed 20 American Flag Kits. What fascinates me about flags (and this goes for any country’s flag) is the object itself is nothing but colored cloth arranged into a snappy design. It is human investm ...