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.

Proposal for a permanent video installation for the NYC headquarters of Sony Corporation - Dara Birnbaum

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

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Mahe Gilles

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

Museum - Katharina Fritsch

Projets non réalisés: - Daniel Buren

Social Resource Project For the Munich Olympics - Stephen Willats

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

Electronic Theater - Laurie Anderson

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4364
25.05.2011
AUTOPOIETIC AMALGAMATE  - Brandon Walls Olsen
WWW
AUTOPOIETIC AMALGAMATE (ALL OF THE “ART” DISTILLED INTO A FORM-FUL PILE AND EMPTIED ITSELF OF EXCESS, FINALLY): [Self-Portrait as Utility (Blades); EVERYTHING-NOTHING: Everything (The Big Oil [Low Light]), Nothing (Faux-Earth [High Light]), Primary an ...
AUTOPOIETIC AMALGAMATE (ALL OF THE “ART” DISTILLED INTO A FORM-FUL PILE AND EMPTIED ITSELF OF EXCESS, FINALLY): [Self-Portrait as Utility (Blades); EVERYTHING-NOTHING: Everything (The Big Oil [Low Light]), Nothing (Faux-Earth [High Light]), Primary an ...
W3550
12.05.2011
Diary Project 2011 - Anna-Marya Tompa
WWW
I have been working with a series of images in which I merge drawings with photographs. In some instants the drawing has a direct relationship, a one-to-one interpretation of the same image, one through my "drawing" eye, the other through the photographi ...
I have been working with a series of images in which I merge drawings with photographs. In some instants the drawing has a direct relationship, a one-to-one interpretation of the same image, one through my "drawing" eye, the other through the photographi ...
U9497
07.04.1997
Jake and Dinos Chapman's five proposals for an empty plinth situated on central londons trafalgar square - Jake and Dinos Chapman
Unbuilt Roads
commissioned by liberal daily broadsheet newspaper ironically suggesting the most unsuitable artists possible to produce the most unsuitable public sculpture never to be realized: ha ha ha, very funny we suggest one of the following: project 'Hawki ...
commissioned by liberal daily broadsheet newspaper ironically suggesting the most unsuitable artists possible to produce the most unsuitable public sculpture never to be realized: ha ha ha, very funny we suggest one of the following: project 'Hawki ...
W5193
01.10.2012
becoming the mountain - Aerial Sparks
WWW
When I decided to become a professional artist in 2005 , I was switching from a career to my vocation , ignorant of how the art world works I concluded the best means of gaining interest and artistic notoriety quickly was to make a selection of large co ...
When I decided to become a professional artist in 2005 , I was switching from a career to my vocation , ignorant of how the art world works I concluded the best means of gaining interest and artistic notoriety quickly was to make a selection of large co ...
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 ...
W4578
25.05.2011
LAIKART - Eirene Efstathiou, Maria Michou, Iris Plaitakis
WWW
LAIKART artist group for unrealized utopian projects Inception LAIKART was an artist group founded in Athens, Greece, by Eirene Efstathiou (artist), Maria Michou (architect) and Iris Plaitakis (artist / archaeologist). In 2006, when LAIKART to ...
LAIKART artist group for unrealized utopian projects Inception LAIKART was an artist group founded in Athens, Greece, by Eirene Efstathiou (artist), Maria Michou (architect) and Iris Plaitakis (artist / archaeologist). In 2006, when LAIKART to ...
W10431
22.04.2014
Digital Lacuna - Nicolas Barrette
WWW
The aim of this project is to offer a new way of perceiving the internet and its influence on the physical environment. WIFI points across the city are mapped in a GIS across the city of Toronto. Where the points of highest density exist, pneumatic dom ...
The aim of this project is to offer a new way of perceiving the internet and its influence on the physical environment. WIFI points across the city are mapped in a GIS across the city of Toronto. Where the points of highest density exist, pneumatic dom ...
W3891
20.05.2011
The Library of Audio Visual and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation (LAVTSIM) - Corey Escoto
WWW
The Library of Audio Visual and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation (LAVTSIM) is an unrealized organization dedicated to the collecting and display of information of motivational (fear based) and inspirational (coming from some unconscious creat ...
The Library of Audio Visual and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation (LAVTSIM) is an unrealized organization dedicated to the collecting and display of information of motivational (fear based) and inspirational (coming from some unconscious creat ...
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 ...
W4459
25.05.2011
adrien tirtiaux
WWW
My first proposed project for an integrated artwork to a water sports centre near Tournai, Belgium. The site faces the last remaining shipyard in an area with a dense industrial past. ...
My first proposed project for an integrated artwork to a water sports centre near Tournai, Belgium. The site faces the last remaining shipyard in an area with a dense industrial past. ...
W4479
25.05.2011
Hösl&Mihaljevic
WWW
Project: To print a whole issue of a newspaper, for example Sueddeutsche Zeitung, twice: First time only the pictures. Second time only the words. ...
Project: To print a whole issue of a newspaper, for example Sueddeutsche Zeitung, twice: First time only the pictures. Second time only the words. ...
W4072
23.05.2011
'KEIDAI reappearance' project - OKAMOTO Mitsuhiro
WWW
'KEIDAI reappearance' project, July to September 2005, is reappearance of one of a Japanese shrine precincts in Ciaotou, south of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  Most Japanese Shinto shrines in Taiwan were destroyed by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang after W.W.Ⅱ ...
'KEIDAI reappearance' project, July to September 2005, is reappearance of one of a Japanese shrine precincts in Ciaotou, south of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  Most Japanese Shinto shrines in Taiwan were destroyed by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang after W.W.Ⅱ ...
W4702
26.05.2011
The Cube - Lisa Hein
WWW
Proposal Rockaway 9/11 memorial Lisa Hein 2002 THE CUBE A bleacher faces the water on Jamaica Bay. It watches the Manhattan skyline to the northwest. The center of the bleacher is cut out in a square. A black cube rises through. ...
Proposal Rockaway 9/11 memorial Lisa Hein 2002 THE CUBE A bleacher faces the water on Jamaica Bay. It watches the Manhattan skyline to the northwest. The center of the bleacher is cut out in a square. A black cube rises through. ...
W10612
03.07.2014
On cherche à la lumière ce que l'on a perdu dans le noir - Nadine Lère
WWW
Mon projet est de construire et d’installer un dispositif éclairant, une source de lumière propre à voir. Le dispositif, un espace pénétrable, prend la fonction de point d’attraction, comme un phare. Il se veut être un point de repère, de rasse ...
Mon projet est de construire et d’installer un dispositif éclairant, une source de lumière propre à voir. Le dispositif, un espace pénétrable, prend la fonction de point d’attraction, comme un phare. Il se veut être un point de repère, de rasse ...
W4074
23.05.2011
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) - Maarten van der Heijden (@Maarten141BOXES)
WWW
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) Introduction @Maarten141BOXES is a Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress. It is an egodocument: an autobiographi ...
@Maarten141BOXES: Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress (Artist: Maarten van der Heijden, 1947) Introduction @Maarten141BOXES is a Bilingual Digital Interactive Internet Artwork in Progress. It is an egodocument: an autobiographi ...
W4756
27.05.2011
“Collectors” Series - Soo Kim
WWW
Unfinished and ongoing project called "Collectors" -all kinds of things and creatures are collected, and create a melody and tune. Initial idea for “Collectors” series started after thinking how we miss unnoticeable things around surroundings, and th ...
Unfinished and ongoing project called "Collectors" -all kinds of things and creatures are collected, and create a melody and tune. Initial idea for “Collectors” series started after thinking how we miss unnoticeable things around surroundings, and th ...
W5071
05.09.2012
Daily Range - Matan Ashkenazy
WWW
DAILY RANGE. MATAN ASHKENAZY This body of work includes colour photographs done in Israel with an 8x10 plate camera between 2009-2012. The images deal with confined space within the natural environment aesthetically, politically and construct wise. A ...
DAILY RANGE. MATAN ASHKENAZY This body of work includes colour photographs done in Israel with an 8x10 plate camera between 2009-2012. The images deal with confined space within the natural environment aesthetically, politically and construct wise. A ...
W5091
10.09.2012
Hortus d'Epe - Harald Schole
WWW
Hortus d'Epe An innovative artproject related to new infrastructure in Epe. Commission CBK Arnhem and the city Epe 2005, proposal exhibition in CBK Arnhem titled 'the idea generator' Some old mansions nearby have beautiful French gardens. A ne ...
Hortus d'Epe An innovative artproject related to new infrastructure in Epe. Commission CBK Arnhem and the city Epe 2005, proposal exhibition in CBK Arnhem titled 'the idea generator' Some old mansions nearby have beautiful French gardens. A ne ...
U9764
01.01.1974
Just Before Dawn - David Lamelas
Unbuilt Roads
Color/16m.m - 50 minutes/£800 JUST BEFORE DAWN by Davd Lamelas The project is basically an analysis of the elements by which narative primarily works on Film Narrative conventions. There is already something that we understand as "comme ...
Color/16m.m - 50 minutes/£800 JUST BEFORE DAWN by Davd Lamelas The project is basically an analysis of the elements by which narative primarily works on Film Narrative conventions. There is already something that we understand as "comme ...
W4952
20.08.2012
made in america asembled in mexico - Paul Valadez
WWW
We will carry pieces of artwork created in Texas into Mexico where we will then hand assemble the work at a yet to be determined rented space. The artwork being brought into Mexico consists of 500 works on wood, metal, paper and other found objects. Th ...
We will carry pieces of artwork created in Texas into Mexico where we will then hand assemble the work at a yet to be determined rented space. The artwork being brought into Mexico consists of 500 works on wood, metal, paper and other found objects. Th ...
W4734
26.05.2011
Dead but not gone - Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka
WWW
Dead but not gone …. Dead but not gone is a project about the dead things that once was live and living in this world. This was unrealized photography project that, recently I found as going back to my photography archive from 2005 to 2011, I have take ...
Dead but not gone …. Dead but not gone is a project about the dead things that once was live and living in this world. This was unrealized photography project that, recently I found as going back to my photography archive from 2005 to 2011, I have take ...
U9572
01.01.1992
Engel-Detektor - Jakob Gautel & Jason Karaïndros
Unbuilt Roads
"Looking into the heart of light, the silence . . . " - T. S. Eliot «Un agne passe» - „Ein Engel schwebt durch den Raum" - ein Moment due Ruhe, der selten geworden ist in unserer Gesellschaft, die vom visuellen und sonoren horror vacui verflogt wir ...
"Looking into the heart of light, the silence . . . " - T. S. Eliot «Un agne passe» - „Ein Engel schwebt durch den Raum" - ein Moment due Ruhe, der selten geworden ist in unserer Gesellschaft, die vom visuellen und sonoren horror vacui verflogt wir ...
W5203
03.10.2012
Blueprint - Peter J Hoffmeister
WWW
With the “Blueprint” series I seek to draw a new experience from the blueprint, something not normally considered for artistic purposes. My process utilizes the cyanotype print, which was the process first used to make modern blueprints beginning in. ...
With the “Blueprint” series I seek to draw a new experience from the blueprint, something not normally considered for artistic purposes. My process utilizes the cyanotype print, which was the process first used to make modern blueprints beginning in. ...
W5483
22.10.2012
How much spices? - Mirna Arsovska
WWW
International İstanbul Biennial Proposal for interactive installation “How much spices?” by Mirna Arsovska A: TEHNICAL DESCRIPTION 1. Exhibition space Large enough space / hall, separated in tree colored segments: black, grey, white 2. O ...
International İstanbul Biennial Proposal for interactive installation “How much spices?” by Mirna Arsovska A: TEHNICAL DESCRIPTION 1. Exhibition space Large enough space / hall, separated in tree colored segments: black, grey, white 2. O ...
W3713
17.05.2011
A passage, London 1999 (project, with Sergison Bates architects) - Mark Pimlott
WWW
Sutton-walk is a special place poised between two differently proposed versions or conceptions of London. One is chaotic, the other has an idea of itself as ideal, a fantasy about how London could be. Both are London, both are legitimate, both are produ ...
Sutton-walk is a special place poised between two differently proposed versions or conceptions of London. One is chaotic, the other has an idea of itself as ideal, a fantasy about how London could be. Both are London, both are legitimate, both are produ ...
W3690
16.05.2011
It’s Not You, Me, or the Dog - Cecile B. Evans
WWW
Summary of Intent I plan to produce a series of video works that use trained animals, instead of humans, to “act out” or represent various emotional states and scenarios. Continuing my previous investigations of the production and construction of i ...
Summary of Intent I plan to produce a series of video works that use trained animals, instead of humans, to “act out” or represent various emotional states and scenarios. Continuing my previous investigations of the production and construction of i ...