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.

Engel-Detektor - Jakob Gautel & Jason Karaïndros

Eislandschaft - P. Fischli und D. Weiss

Cruzeiro Do Sul, (Southern Cross) (Crucero del Sur) 1969-70* - Cildo Meireles

Milan House (AC/DC & Joy Division) - Liam Gillick

119. PROJET DE DESTRUCTION DU MUSEE 1970 - 1971 - Jef Geys

The World Record - General Idea

Nicht realisierte Projekte - Stefan Demary

Festival du film de famille - Pierre Huyghe

Square Depression - Bruce Nauman

<A Public Misery Message> - Critical Art Ensemble

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W4246
24.05.2011
Untitled project - Nobuo Yoda
WWW
Untitled project Nobuo Yoda This project is a proposal for Daikanyama Installation 2009 that was rejected. Daikanyama Installation 2009 is a call for installations that is held every two years in Daikanyama area (Meguro Ward), ...
Untitled project Nobuo Yoda This project is a proposal for Daikanyama Installation 2009 that was rejected. Daikanyama Installation 2009 is a call for installations that is held every two years in Daikanyama area (Meguro Ward), ...
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. ...
W4017
22.05.2011
Ich bin Berliner ( I am a Berliner) - Martin Mlecko
WWW
In 1986, Martin Mlecko conceived the work "Ich bin Berliner, Michail Gorbatschow". Invited by a group of Berlin curators and artists, the work should have been installation on billboards ...
In 1986, Martin Mlecko conceived the work "Ich bin Berliner, Michail Gorbatschow". Invited by a group of Berlin curators and artists, the work should have been installation on billboards ...
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 ...
U9303
01.06.1990
PROPOSAL FOR SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION, IN PUBLIC - Chris Burden
Unbuilt Roads
I propose that a typical working fisherman's boat 30 to 50 feet in length be attached to the side of the new Seattle Art Museum building. The boat's bow would point skyward, it's keel resting along one side of the building . A cable from the roof to the b ...
I propose that a typical working fisherman's boat 30 to 50 feet in length be attached to the side of the new Seattle Art Museum building. The boat's bow would point skyward, it's keel resting along one side of the building . A cable from the roof to the b ...
W3858
19.05.2011
Cheryl K. Shurtleff
WWW
I propose to construct cat hair figures from fur collected from the cats housed at the Idaho Humane Shelter over a period of time. In order to realize this project I propose to visit the Humane Shelter twice per week over a period of one month. I will pet ...
I propose to construct cat hair figures from fur collected from the cats housed at the Idaho Humane Shelter over a period of time. In order to realize this project I propose to visit the Humane Shelter twice per week over a period of one month. I will pet ...
W3816
19.05.2011
Pittsburgh Passion Project, (Mistaken ID) - Ayanah Moor
WWW
The Pittsburgh Passion Project (2008-2009) probed the relationship between gender identity and sports practices through contemporary performance. In the American imagination, the contours of helmet, football pads, and protective gear have historically ...
The Pittsburgh Passion Project (2008-2009) probed the relationship between gender identity and sports practices through contemporary performance. In the American imagination, the contours of helmet, football pads, and protective gear have historically ...
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 ...
W4656
25.05.2011
SELF-INDULGENT NATIONS  - Silvia Pereira
WWW
SILVIA PEREIRA Public art installation to be presented in World fairs. SELF-INDULGENT NATIONS This art piece presents groups of monumental flags of all nations in public space, ripped by the simulated weather effects of erosion. The decayed look of ...
SILVIA PEREIRA Public art installation to be presented in World fairs. SELF-INDULGENT NATIONS This art piece presents groups of monumental flags of all nations in public space, ripped by the simulated weather effects of erosion. The decayed look of ...
W4119
23.05.2011
TIME:PIECE - LEWIS KOCH
WWW
TIME:PIECE, A PUBLIC ARTWORK BY LEWIS KOCH, to hang on the front facade of the museum building, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The banner's design, comprised of line drawing and text, presents an interpretation of the idea of time defined from ...
TIME:PIECE, A PUBLIC ARTWORK BY LEWIS KOCH, to hang on the front facade of the museum building, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The banner's design, comprised of line drawing and text, presents an interpretation of the idea of time defined from ...
W4328
24.05.2011
Brian McLendon
WWW
The project is an installation that can only be experienced via physical movement through the work. I would create an environment channeling the movement of observers through the fair into an unavoidable act of participation, altering its spaces into ...
The project is an installation that can only be experienced via physical movement through the work. I would create an environment channeling the movement of observers through the fair into an unavoidable act of participation, altering its spaces into ...
W3679
16.05.2011
William Livingstone house Detroit Project 2010 submitted to United States Artists Projects - Vincent Johnson
WWW
The project I am engaged in is the production of a three-foot tall sculpture on a table-top of the collapsed William Livingstone house in Detroit. This is important to me as it represents a metaphorical revisiting of my past, as this Detroit home represen ...
The project I am engaged in is the production of a three-foot tall sculpture on a table-top of the collapsed William Livingstone house in Detroit. This is important to me as it represents a metaphorical revisiting of my past, as this Detroit home represen ...
W5316
18.10.2012
Contingency Zone - Thiago Parizi
WWW
The project entitled “Contingency Zone” consist of 12 flagpoles, measuring 600cm tall by 6.5cm of diameter, and twelve flags, measuring 220 cm by 100cm, stamped with the repeating pattern [in the colors black and yellow] of the “caution” tapes ...
The project entitled “Contingency Zone” consist of 12 flagpoles, measuring 600cm tall by 6.5cm of diameter, and twelve flags, measuring 220 cm by 100cm, stamped with the repeating pattern [in the colors black and yellow] of the “caution” tapes ...
W5426
20.10.2012
Hand Gardens - Vision Kaushik
WWW
Hand Gardens Vision Kaushik Unrealized Berlin Proposal October 18 2012 My idea is simple and can be visualized easily. Hanging gardens based around giant wooden hands, lush and overgrown. An oasis in the city, where one can pocket themselves off an ...
Hand Gardens Vision Kaushik Unrealized Berlin Proposal October 18 2012 My idea is simple and can be visualized easily. Hanging gardens based around giant wooden hands, lush and overgrown. An oasis in the city, where one can pocket themselves off an ...
W5896
18.10.2013
Golf course - Matthijs Muller
WWW
Golf courses are artificial landscapes with artificial hills and small artificial sand dunes. Now imagine a golf course (in the Netherlands, in the meadows), without those artificial hills and the small sand dunes replaced by metal versions on poles to pu ...
Golf courses are artificial landscapes with artificial hills and small artificial sand dunes. Now imagine a golf course (in the Netherlands, in the meadows), without those artificial hills and the small sand dunes replaced by metal versions on poles to pu ...
W5141
21.09.2012
arrays - Steffen Kasperavicius
WWW
ARRAYS „Heutzutage ist kaum etwas realistischer als Utopien“ (Thornton Wilder, 1887-1975) Als diplomierter Medienkünstler interessiere ich mich bereits seit mehreren Jahren für die MinimalArt- und ConceptualArt-Tendenzen der 60er und 70er Jahre. I ...
ARRAYS „Heutzutage ist kaum etwas realistischer als Utopien“ (Thornton Wilder, 1887-1975) Als diplomierter Medienkünstler interessiere ich mich bereits seit mehreren Jahren für die MinimalArt- und ConceptualArt-Tendenzen der 60er und 70er Jahre. I ...
W3957
20.05.2011
Chain Link Fence - Michael Arata
WWW
Chain Link Fence(space between) Graphite and paint on diamond shapes made of styrofoam and masking tape. The Chain Link Fence project represents the negative space between the wires that make up the steel fence material. The diamond shapes are some tim ...
Chain Link Fence(space between) Graphite and paint on diamond shapes made of styrofoam and masking tape. The Chain Link Fence project represents the negative space between the wires that make up the steel fence material. The diamond shapes are some tim ...
W5434
20.10.2012
Hole - Aya Imamura
WWW
About "Hole" This work is made by stop motion animation. A monitor installed into the small hole. From the hole, you may peek people eating and cooking. It is ordinaries of life for us. This work idea is based on "mement mori" This Latin phrase means, "R ...
About "Hole" This work is made by stop motion animation. A monitor installed into the small hole. From the hole, you may peek people eating and cooking. It is ordinaries of life for us. This work idea is based on "mement mori" This Latin phrase means, "R ...
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.. ...
W5444
20.10.2012
The Ghost Room - Veronika Gorelik
WWW
27 crates 6 tones of amber--13000 pounds 10 years to construct baroque music-bach It is around 8 evening--precisely when all black tie art and social events start around a metropolitan city. Not unlike any of these type of events -many people gather ...
27 crates 6 tones of amber--13000 pounds 10 years to construct baroque music-bach It is around 8 evening--precisely when all black tie art and social events start around a metropolitan city. Not unlike any of these type of events -many people gather ...
W5417
20.10.2012
Untitled - Rachel Alliston
WWW
This untitled project was for a temporary installation in London’s Gordon Square. It was planned over the course of ten months by Rachel Alliston and Laura Weatherly. Before starting work on building the piece, Alliston and Weatherly made an exhibition ...
This untitled project was for a temporary installation in London’s Gordon Square. It was planned over the course of ten months by Rachel Alliston and Laura Weatherly. Before starting work on building the piece, Alliston and Weatherly made an exhibition ...
W5060
03.09.2012
Indoor swiming pool competition - Rodrigo Lima Arquitecto
WWW
Indoor swiming pool competition. A water surface, running along a curve shaped hangar, ends in a water fall. The water surface contains 4 swimming pools, each one dedicated to a different type of water activity. (Sports or Play) ...
Indoor swiming pool competition. A water surface, running along a curve shaped hangar, ends in a water fall. The water surface contains 4 swimming pools, each one dedicated to a different type of water activity. (Sports or Play) ...
W4322
24.05.2011
Laboratory for Perfecting Fear - Transidency
WWW
Laboratory for Perfecting Fear (working title) Proposal for the II Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Contents Proposal Proposed Installation Background Theory Possible problems and Possible Solutions Methodology Locations Support About Trans ...
Laboratory for Perfecting Fear (working title) Proposal for the II Moscow International Biennale for Young Art Contents Proposal Proposed Installation Background Theory Possible problems and Possible Solutions Methodology Locations Support About Trans ...
W4465
25.05.2011
ExoMars - Lyn Hagan
WWW
The European Space Agency (ESA) currently runs a space exploration programme called Aurora which includes a planned robotic mission to the surface of Mars. The ExoMars rover will be sent in 2018 to gather and analyse data they receive and includes a nu ...
The European Space Agency (ESA) currently runs a space exploration programme called Aurora which includes a planned robotic mission to the surface of Mars. The ExoMars rover will be sent in 2018 to gather and analyse data they receive and includes a nu ...
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 ...
W3482
11.05.2011
„Die schönste Geschichte der Welt“ („The most beautiful story ever“) - Sandra Meisel
WWW
Unrealized Project by Sandra Meisel, 2010 „Die schönste Geschichte der Welt“ („The most beautiful story ever“) a site specific installation consisting of two large-scale installations „Himalaya“ and „Karussell“, as well as a series o ...
Unrealized Project by Sandra Meisel, 2010 „Die schönste Geschichte der Welt“ („The most beautiful story ever“) a site specific installation consisting of two large-scale installations „Himalaya“ and „Karussell“, as well as a series o ...