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.

CIVITAS Stadtpostkarten - Lothar Baumgarten

Untitled, modeled after the Leipzig Völkerschlachtdenkmal...  - Jenny Holzer

The bridge according to Jeong-a's dream - Koo Jeong

Project 1 + Project 2 - Simryn Gill

A House of Dust - Alison Knowles

Festival du film de famille - Pierre Huyghe

Ruderaltisch, 1994/95 Kunst am Bau - Projekt - Lois Weinberger

Post Photographic apparatus - Steven Pippin

Time Magazine Cover - Robert Rauschenberg

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

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W10717
11.09.2014
Parallelle Projekte in der Stadt Münster, 1997 - Nicolaisen Terje
WWW
At my final year in the Academy I went to Münster to show my projects with Yellow Light. Should I wait till I am 60 to be invited or just go to the party uninvited? Kasper König made it clear to me in his office at Landesmuseum that this was a private p ...
At my final year in the Academy I went to Münster to show my projects with Yellow Light. Should I wait till I am 60 to be invited or just go to the party uninvited? Kasper König made it clear to me in his office at Landesmuseum that this was a private p ...
W4258
24.05.2011
A Dead Voice from a Lost Age - John Patrick Egan
WWW
So, the work I would like to submit is (was?) intended to bear the moniker (working title) A Dead Voice from a Lost Age. The concept for the piece derived, initially, from my training as a musician, specifically my specialisation in the baroque and transi ...
So, the work I would like to submit is (was?) intended to bear the moniker (working title) A Dead Voice from a Lost Age. The concept for the piece derived, initially, from my training as a musician, specifically my specialisation in the baroque and transi ...
W5138
21.09.2012
Good Vibrations - Carlo Crovato
WWW
To illuminate the dark space beneath hoch-bahn bridges using Off the Grid techniques. Project title Good Vibrations. there will be moving illumination on underside of U-Bahn bridges as train passes overhead. 1 17 June 2011 Carlo Crovato Berli ...
To illuminate the dark space beneath hoch-bahn bridges using Off the Grid techniques. Project title Good Vibrations. there will be moving illumination on underside of U-Bahn bridges as train passes overhead. 1 17 June 2011 Carlo Crovato Berli ...
W3531
11.05.2011
Jeanette Doyle
WWW
This piece is part of an ongoing research project into psychosis. I have always been fascinated by tentative presentations of reality where various representations both re-enforce and refute each other. From my research on psychosis I've discovered that t ...
This piece is part of an ongoing research project into psychosis. I have always been fascinated by tentative presentations of reality where various representations both re-enforce and refute each other. From my research on psychosis I've discovered that t ...
W4308
24.05.2011
Adam Battestilli
WWW
POEM You view the world Through rose-tinted handsoap In a clear plastic bottle Pressed up against your eye. People ask you why. You sigh, and you reply, Why, it makes everything pink! And helps me rid My fingers of the stink Of ...
POEM You view the world Through rose-tinted handsoap In a clear plastic bottle Pressed up against your eye. People ask you why. You sigh, and you reply, Why, it makes everything pink! And helps me rid My fingers of the stink Of ...
W4579
25.05.2011
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT - Annita Koutsonanou | Evy Tsolaki | Maria Spaniola
WWW
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT …I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars [..]. I thought that a man might be an enemy of other men, of the different moment of other ...
URBAN ENTANGLEMENT …I thought of a maze of mazes, of a sinuous, ever growing maze which would take in both past and future and would somehow involve the stars [..]. I thought that a man might be an enemy of other men, of the different moment of other ...
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 ...
U9538
01.01.1996
The Clock - Ayse Erkmen
Unbuilt Roads
The location is Domplatz, Münster. The Place is the reconstructed wall at the west wing of the Dome. This was the previous entrance of the Dome before it was destroyed in the way. It does not have an entrance any more but has twelve large windows forming ...
The location is Domplatz, Münster. The Place is the reconstructed wall at the west wing of the Dome. This was the previous entrance of the Dome before it was destroyed in the way. It does not have an entrance any more but has twelve large windows forming ...
W3543
12.05.2011
L'art mis à nu par ses artistes, même... Rifiuto della Creazione / Everything has been done, so why do „everything” ? - Gregor Rozanski
WWW
working title and object(s) as complex game of meanings. this is a meeting of ideas of two rebels form different backgrounds - artist Marcel Duchamp and theoretican and activist Antonio Negri. Negri and Duchamp have one the same opinion that is be ...
working title and object(s) as complex game of meanings. this is a meeting of ideas of two rebels form different backgrounds - artist Marcel Duchamp and theoretican and activist Antonio Negri. Negri and Duchamp have one the same opinion that is be ...
W5068
05.09.2012
White Blood Cells - Bodino Philippe
WWW
multi-artistic performance uses several field such as live painting, video, dance, live music, improvisation. ...
multi-artistic performance uses several field such as live painting, video, dance, live music, improvisation. ...
U9285
01.01.1969
Monumento all'agricoltura 1969-70 - Alighiero Boetti
Unbuilt Roads
In Turin von Alighiero Boetti für Fiat entworfenes Projekt, das im Rahmen der Landwirtschaftsausstellung 1970 in Verona prasentiert werden sollte, auf der die Firma vertreten war. Es sah eine etwa zwanzig Meter hohe Saüle vor, die die verschiedenen Schi ...
In Turin von Alighiero Boetti für Fiat entworfenes Projekt, das im Rahmen der Landwirtschaftsausstellung 1970 in Verona prasentiert werden sollte, auf der die Firma vertreten war. Es sah eine etwa zwanzig Meter hohe Saüle vor, die die verschiedenen Schi ...
U9712
14.11.1992
Memorial - Ilya Kabakov
Unbuilt Roads
Kabakov "MEMORIAL" Short description of the project The Concept of the Project "Memorial" The Russian revolution which established the "era of Socialism" is considered to be a most important event of the twentieth century. The end of ...
Kabakov "MEMORIAL" Short description of the project The Concept of the Project "Memorial" The Russian revolution which established the "era of Socialism" is considered to be a most important event of the twentieth century. The end of ...
W4852
08.08.2012
Ada Muntean
WWW
These are 2 photos of 2 experimental works which consist in the process of the reconstruction of possible realities from former realities. Basicaly they are stripes (cut from photos and drawings) reordered and sticked in a different way from the initial.. ...
These are 2 photos of 2 experimental works which consist in the process of the reconstruction of possible realities from former realities. Basicaly they are stripes (cut from photos and drawings) reordered and sticked in a different way from the initial.. ...
W3665
15.05.2011
DENKMAL FUR FREIHEIT UND EINHEIT BERLIN  - Irene Judong
WWW
Die Idee: Die Idee ist ein Park, der für die Bevölkerung zugänglich ist und insbesondere auch für kleine Kinder und Rollstuhlfahrer geeignet ist. Im Zentrum des Parks befinden sich ein Teich und eine Skulptur (vgl. Abbildungen). Das Konzept: “E ...
Die Idee: Die Idee ist ein Park, der für die Bevölkerung zugänglich ist und insbesondere auch für kleine Kinder und Rollstuhlfahrer geeignet ist. Im Zentrum des Parks befinden sich ein Teich und eine Skulptur (vgl. Abbildungen). Das Konzept: “E ...
W3674
15.05.2011
The Warhol Machine - Johanna Thompson
WWW
The Warhol Machine is a mechanism that will bring 15 minutes of fame to everyone. It is an installation in Times Square, New York City, consisting of a video camera in a booth, a visitor inside the booth and in front of the camera and the already installe ...
The Warhol Machine is a mechanism that will bring 15 minutes of fame to everyone. It is an installation in Times Square, New York City, consisting of a video camera in a booth, a visitor inside the booth and in front of the camera and the already installe ...
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 ...
W3808
18.05.2011
Non-site seeing tours - Jen Urso
WWW
I will navigate through the city by its interstitial spaces. Using predetermined criteria for what qualifies as an interstitial space and matching mapping symbolism, I will go on walks through the city, avoiding usual thoroughfares and attraction points. ...
I will navigate through the city by its interstitial spaces. Using predetermined criteria for what qualifies as an interstitial space and matching mapping symbolism, I will go on walks through the city, avoiding usual thoroughfares and attraction points. ...
W4783
05.06.2011
The Manual  - Najda EL-Amriti
WWW
Title: 3 Years (The Manual) Date: 2009 Medium: Hard bound book In march 2009, the final year of my degree, the point at which important decisions needed to be made as to what to do, where to go and how to do it...I began writing. A reversion back to. ...
Title: 3 Years (The Manual) Date: 2009 Medium: Hard bound book In march 2009, the final year of my degree, the point at which important decisions needed to be made as to what to do, where to go and how to do it...I began writing. A reversion back to. ...
W3607
13.05.2011
If you meet Buddha on the path, kill him, 2004-2011 - Shannon Bellum
WWW
Technical aspects ​This is an installation made out of suspended fabric panels going from the floor, to 7 feet high at the entrance and finishing off at 9 feet high at the center of the maze. The panels are attached to plastic tubing that is suspe ...
Technical aspects ​This is an installation made out of suspended fabric panels going from the floor, to 7 feet high at the entrance and finishing off at 9 feet high at the center of the maze. The panels are attached to plastic tubing that is suspe ...
W4859
08.08.2012
Madness. Alice plays hopscotch - Ula Lewicka
WWW
a project for the exhibition, about Alice in the Wonderland and idea of cutting heads, "Madness - Alice plays hopscotch". draft only: Exhibition Title : Madness. Alice plays hopscotch Time- One week. As the Mad Hatter we won't be killing time. Artis ...
a project for the exhibition, about Alice in the Wonderland and idea of cutting heads, "Madness - Alice plays hopscotch". draft only: Exhibition Title : Madness. Alice plays hopscotch Time- One week. As the Mad Hatter we won't be killing time. Artis ...
W4038
22.05.2011
Les dessous de Môtiers - Jacqueline Benz
WWW
Les dessous de Môtiers Le toit est soulevé par une grue, 80 cm d’intervalle marquent l’écart entre le bâtiment et le toit. Les pans du toit ont l’air de flotter un peu au-dessus de la maison, dans une légère mise en mouvement. Rien n’est ...
Les dessous de Môtiers Le toit est soulevé par une grue, 80 cm d’intervalle marquent l’écart entre le bâtiment et le toit. Les pans du toit ont l’air de flotter un peu au-dessus de la maison, dans une légère mise en mouvement. Rien n’est ...
W4681
26.05.2011
Heads in Starlight - TARO ZORRILLA
WWW
Heads in Starlight, a closing event, for Feel Felt (see background on page 2) night performance for up to 100. We bring pre-cut unassembled tall paper-cone hats and on site we thread tall grass stalks and fine light-optic cables through the tips of the h ...
Heads in Starlight, a closing event, for Feel Felt (see background on page 2) night performance for up to 100. We bring pre-cut unassembled tall paper-cone hats and on site we thread tall grass stalks and fine light-optic cables through the tips of the h ...
W4202
24.05.2011
The Eisenstein Project - janet hodgson
WWW
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
BATH SPA STATION - DAY A trolley with high wire-mesh sides stands on the platform, and propped inside is a crate - it’s big enough to contain an adult but doesn’t look like a coffin. A large consignment note is pasted on to it. It’s in Russian: an ...
W5308
17.10.2012
Wilhelm-and-Jakob-Grimm-Center in B - Karla Sachse
WWW
Dear organizers of the Agency of Unrealized Projects, although near your deadline for contributions I would like to send you the draft for a shining column which could have marked the new big library temple called Wilhelm-and-Jakob-Grimm-Center in B ...
Dear organizers of the Agency of Unrealized Projects, although near your deadline for contributions I would like to send you the draft for a shining column which could have marked the new big library temple called Wilhelm-and-Jakob-Grimm-Center in B ...
W10838
13.12.2014
Exterminators - Fani Zguro
WWW
“Mister Dosti” is a project that originates from the literature. In 2010, the Mr. Dosti was finished, and published only in a few copies, as a volume with Albanian stories. The text itself features various types of writings such as: poetry, notes, pro ...
“Mister Dosti” is a project that originates from the literature. In 2010, the Mr. Dosti was finished, and published only in a few copies, as a volume with Albanian stories. The text itself features various types of writings such as: poetry, notes, pro ...
W4310
24.05.2011
The “Mariah Carey Perpetual God Machine" - Reynard Loki
WWW
The Mariah Carey Perpetual God Machine Based on Fractal Technology An unrealized project by Reynard Loki http://reynardloki.blogspot.com/ The “Mariah Carey Perpetual God Machine Based on Fractal Technology” is an unrealized project consisti ...
The Mariah Carey Perpetual God Machine Based on Fractal Technology An unrealized project by Reynard Loki http://reynardloki.blogspot.com/ The “Mariah Carey Perpetual God Machine Based on Fractal Technology” is an unrealized project consisti ...