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

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

Projekt für die Landschaft des Mont-de-Sene (Burgund) im Rahmen eines öffentlichen Auftrags des französischen Kultusministeriums - Markus Raetz

To Two Too; Hypothetical Monument for a Natural Disaster - Jeffrey Wisniewski

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

PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden

"Ileana, I love you" - Maurizo Cattelan

Der New-Babyloner - Constant

Project tor the Veterans Administration Hospital--Bay Pines, Florida. - Robert Morris

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
#
Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4755
27.05.2011
Dreamy - Oona Stern
WWW
dreamy A wall is constructed brick-and-mortar style, but instead of clay or stone, the bricks are made from shrubbery. It is both a wall and a topiary, bringing together architecture and the garden. As typical of hedgerows, it serves to define space, ...
dreamy A wall is constructed brick-and-mortar style, but instead of clay or stone, the bricks are made from shrubbery. It is both a wall and a topiary, bringing together architecture and the garden. As typical of hedgerows, it serves to define space, ...
W5174
26.09.2012
Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool - Charlie Coffey
WWW
Title: Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) Date: 2007 Medium: Biro sketch on A4 office paper (unframed) Charlie Coffey Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) ...
Title: Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) Date: 2007 Medium: Biro sketch on A4 office paper (unframed) Charlie Coffey Somewhere at the top there's a swimming pool (Failed Proposal For Shoreditch House) ...
W4387
25.05.2011
Pristine Project - Andrea Röpke
WWW
Research proposal Andrea Röpke - Pristine Project 2008 - In February this year the Kontekst gallery in Belgrade opened the Exhibition "Exception" of works by young Kosovar Albanian artists. The exhibition came to my attention through a Belgrade-bas ...
Research proposal Andrea Röpke - Pristine Project 2008 - In February this year the Kontekst gallery in Belgrade opened the Exhibition "Exception" of works by young Kosovar Albanian artists. The exhibition came to my attention through a Belgrade-bas ...
W4240
24.05.2011
Josefina Posch
WWW
W4087
23.05.2011
Apartamentul / Infobox for Bucharest - mona vatamanu & florin tudor
WWW
Apartamentul / Infobox for Bucharest This architectural space was thought as a place where the memory of the city should had been activated through different initiatives and projects. The need to link our present, our memory with our recent past led us ...
Apartamentul / Infobox for Bucharest This architectural space was thought as a place where the memory of the city should had been activated through different initiatives and projects. The need to link our present, our memory with our recent past led us ...
W5353
19.10.2012
THE STORY OF THE WRONG PRAYER BOOK - Vera Gutkina
WWW
THE STORY OF THE WRONG PRAYER BOOK (frescoes at the Chirch of Holy Mary) Some twenty km north of Jerusalem a picturesque Arab town nestles in between the green Judea hills. It is called Abu Gosh after its founders the Abugosh family. They were Muslim. ...
THE STORY OF THE WRONG PRAYER BOOK (frescoes at the Chirch of Holy Mary) Some twenty km north of Jerusalem a picturesque Arab town nestles in between the green Judea hills. It is called Abu Gosh after its founders the Abugosh family. They were Muslim. ...
W5026
31.08.2012
Blow Job - Peter Friedl
WWW
Blow Job Peter Friedl Proposal, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2004 Blow Job (working title) is an exhibition project dealing with theatricality and its media possibilities. In the form of a monographically structured project, I treat various themes with wh ...
Blow Job Peter Friedl Proposal, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2004 Blow Job (working title) is an exhibition project dealing with theatricality and its media possibilities. In the form of a monographically structured project, I treat various themes with wh ...
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 ...
W3835
19.05.2011
‘Jsut Code - Winnie Soon
WWW
‘Jsut Code’ is a collaborative installation in which participants are invited to decode electronic texts written by a collective of distributed writers. ...
‘Jsut Code’ is a collaborative installation in which participants are invited to decode electronic texts written by a collective of distributed writers. ...
W4084
23.05.2011
"After the Council"  - Hunter/Lassal
WWW
"After the Council" (2006) is a playful reflection upon power and adornment on one level, as well as resources and recycling on another. ...
"After the Council" (2006) is a playful reflection upon power and adornment on one level, as well as resources and recycling on another. ...
W10320
17.04.2014
TAU - Jugoslav Mitevski, Frances Scholz, Sarah Steiner
WWW
Request: A building conglomerate approached us* with the request to bring to life again a vacancy in a critically endangered street. Proposal: Inspired by Buckminster Fuller‘s ideas of provoking “change of directions” by creating a vacuum we pr ...
Request: A building conglomerate approached us* with the request to bring to life again a vacancy in a critically endangered street. Proposal: Inspired by Buckminster Fuller‘s ideas of provoking “change of directions” by creating a vacuum we pr ...
W3514
11.05.2011
“Future Show”  - Alexandra Hopf
WWW
“Future Show” is an ongoing investigation into objects of art that have vanished from the field of vision.  These objects were once housed within the original Future Show in the New York's Museum of Non-Objective Art from November to December of 1 ...
“Future Show” is an ongoing investigation into objects of art that have vanished from the field of vision.  These objects were once housed within the original Future Show in the New York's Museum of Non-Objective Art from November to December of 1 ...
W5428
20.10.2012
The Line  - Bindu Mehra
WWW
The Line In 2002, there were communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Ahmedabad in India. According to official estimates, 1044 people were killed in the violence. Another 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed ...
The Line In 2002, there were communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Ahmedabad in India. According to official estimates, 1044 people were killed in the violence. Another 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed ...
W3992
21.05.2011
Ranjit Sidhu
WWW
In a fierce contest in 1961, I was commissioned to create drawings based on “Devotion to Duty”, “Dignity of Labour” and, “Work is Worship” – the themes floated by 505 Command Workshop, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India for eight large wall ...
In a fierce contest in 1961, I was commissioned to create drawings based on “Devotion to Duty”, “Dignity of Labour” and, “Work is Worship” – the themes floated by 505 Command Workshop, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India for eight large wall ...
W3529
11.05.2011
Babylon Dictionary – A spoken sounds Dictionary - Nitsan David Hamerman
WWW
Babylon Dictionary – A spoken sounds Dictionary The work “Babylon Dictionary” engages in locating areas of misunderstanding between languages. Not like any other dictionary, Babylon Dictionary mach between two (or more) different meaning of the s ...
Babylon Dictionary – A spoken sounds Dictionary The work “Babylon Dictionary” engages in locating areas of misunderstanding between languages. Not like any other dictionary, Babylon Dictionary mach between two (or more) different meaning of the s ...
W4000
21.05.2011
Freedom Hill (2010) - Edward Salem
WWW
Freedom Hill (2010) At Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a decommissioned tank, helicopter, cannon, and fighter jet have been permanently installed as monuments to U.S. military strength.  Taking a cue from Meret Oppenheim’s Object - Le D ...
Freedom Hill (2010) At Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a decommissioned tank, helicopter, cannon, and fighter jet have been permanently installed as monuments to U.S. military strength.  Taking a cue from Meret Oppenheim’s Object - Le D ...
W4538
25.05.2011
G.R. and M.F. for Le C.C.C.
WWW
Cher A.U.P., nous abordons ces côtes optiques par cette lettre intraduisible pour essayer de décrocher un peu d'argent, ou du moins poursuivre notre existence momentanée par votre lecture profane. Ayant montré un intérêt pour les projets irré ...
Cher A.U.P., nous abordons ces côtes optiques par cette lettre intraduisible pour essayer de décrocher un peu d'argent, ou du moins poursuivre notre existence momentanée par votre lecture profane. Ayant montré un intérêt pour les projets irré ...
W3719
17.05.2011
Fortune teller project - Trasi Henen
WWW
The idea was to go to ten fortune tellers in one day. I wanted to gather their information, document the audio and the spaces from where they worked. To look at ideas around objective truth, synchronicity, trust and meaning. ...
The idea was to go to ten fortune tellers in one day. I wanted to gather their information, document the audio and the spaces from where they worked. To look at ideas around objective truth, synchronicity, trust and meaning. ...
U9752
01.01.1997
The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong
Unbuilt Roads
round bridge in the middle of the sea to be approached by boat ...
round bridge in the middle of the sea to be approached by boat ...
W3538
11.05.2011
SOPORTE - Gabriel Rico Jimenez
WWW
It will realize a sonorous performance in the place in which I live, will take record on video and examples of the place of natural type, as land or stones and with this to construct a model similar to a table, in which it will show the material obtained ...
It will realize a sonorous performance in the place in which I live, will take record on video and examples of the place of natural type, as land or stones and with this to construct a model similar to a table, in which it will show the material obtained ...
U9635
01.01.1997
Milan House (AC/DC & Joy Division) - Liam Gillick
Unbuilt Roads
In response to an invitation to propose a public art project anywhere in Italy I designed a house to be built in Milan. The basic drawings were completed and submitted for consideration. At this point an architectural practice in Milan became involved and ...
In response to an invitation to propose a public art project anywhere in Italy I designed a house to be built in Milan. The basic drawings were completed and submitted for consideration. At this point an architectural practice in Milan became involved and ...
W5478
21.10.2012
Static BillBoards  - Kenneth Millington
WWW
A project of painting television static on a series of free standing billboards along an expressway. TITLE: Static BillBoards OVERVIEW: Having worked as a large-­‐ scale public muralist and a fine artist for years, I propose to paint a large-­ ...
A project of painting television static on a series of free standing billboards along an expressway. TITLE: Static BillBoards OVERVIEW: Having worked as a large-­‐ scale public muralist and a fine artist for years, I propose to paint a large-­ ...
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 ...
W4267
24.05.2011
“Truth Highway” - Jiivanii RedMarks
WWW
“Truth Highway” The Abstract Artist: Jiivanii RedMarks © 2007 Location: Jamaica “Truth Highway” is an Outdoor Sculpture represented by a transparent glass stairway, standing at about twenty-five meters off the ground or infinity. This escalato ...
“Truth Highway” The Abstract Artist: Jiivanii RedMarks © 2007 Location: Jamaica “Truth Highway” is an Outdoor Sculpture represented by a transparent glass stairway, standing at about twenty-five meters off the ground or infinity. This escalato ...
U9253
01.01.1969
A FAIRLY TALL TOWER, 48,000 Miles High -  - Siah Armajani
Unbuilt Roads
Location: Outer Space Status: Theoretical study Proposal to build a self-supporting tower suspended in space but anchored at one point to the earth (U. S. ). All synchronous satellites of the earth are located at the synchronous altitude. This al ...
Location: Outer Space Status: Theoretical study Proposal to build a self-supporting tower suspended in space but anchored at one point to the earth (U. S. ). All synchronous satellites of the earth are located at the synchronous altitude. This al ...
W3895
20.05.2011
Editorial Sculpture: Divina Commedia  - Javier Toro Blum
WWW
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. With a 2.5mm typography ev ...
The Divina Commedia triptych is a sculpture project, consisting in three ovoid metal cast pieces. Each piece has engraved in low relief (1.5mm) one part of the Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. With a 2.5mm typography ev ...