Agency of Unrealised Projects
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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.

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

Why New Worlds Conceived by Artists Do Not Get Built - Peter Fend

Theater der Leere - Werner Ruhnau and Yves Klein

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

Projet pour la Place Saint Léger à Chambery  - Erik Dietman

Monument with Rust - Gustav Metzger

Memorial - Ilya Kabakov

Relatum (Iron Plate and Stone) - Lee Ufan

Grand Concours International D'Architecture  - Sol Lewitt

"Free Space" - Michelangelo Pistoletto

Agency of Unrealised Projects
Logo by Liam Gillick
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Date
Title
Source
Description
Tags
W10676
13.08.2014
Structure for Formal and Material Imagination - Scott Massey
WWW
Travel to another dimension has long held our fascination. From Alice’s tentative leap down the rabbit hole, Wade Davis’ experients with the worlds psychotropic flora, or teleporting from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, exploration of alternat ...
Travel to another dimension has long held our fascination. From Alice’s tentative leap down the rabbit hole, Wade Davis’ experients with the worlds psychotropic flora, or teleporting from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, exploration of alternat ...
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W4309
24.05.2011
“Face2 eyes spin” - dineo seshee bopape
WWW
“Face2 eyes spin” is a 4 seconds video sketch- without sound, of a face whirling in itself….almost like a rabbit hole of sorts…the beginning of something…sketch was made for inclusion in a video, it was supposed to have been part of a bigger vid ...
“Face2 eyes spin” is a 4 seconds video sketch- without sound, of a face whirling in itself….almost like a rabbit hole of sorts…the beginning of something…sketch was made for inclusion in a video, it was supposed to have been part of a bigger vid ...
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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 ...
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U9747
01.01.1968
A House of Dust - Alison Knowles
Unbuilt Roads
The House of Dust was first a computer poem using fortran language. The quatrains are all different, each line randomly connected. The form shifting categories for the house are: the material of manufature, the locations the light source and the inhabitan ...
The House of Dust was first a computer poem using fortran language. The quatrains are all different, each line randomly connected. The form shifting categories for the house are: the material of manufature, the locations the light source and the inhabitan ...
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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 ...
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W5014
30.08.2012
Spiral Cloud above Spiral Jetty. - Soren Dahlgaard
WWW
Title: Spiral Cloud above Spiral Jetty. Please find text and images attached in the same jpg document. Thank you, Soren Dahlgaard, Copenhagen. ...
Title: Spiral Cloud above Spiral Jetty. Please find text and images attached in the same jpg document. Thank you, Soren Dahlgaard, Copenhagen. ...
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W4338
24.05.2011
Untitled (Paper Cuts), - Raluca Popa
WWW
RALUCA POPA Untitled (Paper Cuts), paper, glue, dimensions variable (2011) No one to talk. This work is in progress. This work addresses the subject of failure – the failure of the object and the failure of the event. This work might create ...
RALUCA POPA Untitled (Paper Cuts), paper, glue, dimensions variable (2011) No one to talk. This work is in progress. This work addresses the subject of failure – the failure of the object and the failure of the event. This work might create ...
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W4122
23.05.2011
The Butterfly Tree - Chris Lipomi
WWW
There is a project which I have been thinking about and working on for quite some time now. Basically it is a living kinetic sculpture of a full sized tree (15/20 ft. tall), with living green tropical butterflies as the leaves. The tree itself, function ...
There is a project which I have been thinking about and working on for quite some time now. Basically it is a living kinetic sculpture of a full sized tree (15/20 ft. tall), with living green tropical butterflies as the leaves. The tree itself, function ...
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W4816
07.08.2012
Photographs of Common Objects - Bradley Olson
WWW
For the series of black and white still life’s, Photographs of Common Objects, I used a 4” x 5” view camera to capture in fine detail, the form and surface of relics from daily life. Among them - adding machines, ceramic, glass, and plastic cups, ki ...
For the series of black and white still life’s, Photographs of Common Objects, I used a 4” x 5” view camera to capture in fine detail, the form and surface of relics from daily life. Among them - adding machines, ceramic, glass, and plastic cups, ki ...
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W3537
11.05.2011
‘Against the fall’ - Sarah Luedemann
WWW
Project outline (Version Ia): ‘Against the fall’ consists of a fully functioning white parachute and about 300 (or more) A4 rejection letters from art students and artists worldwide, which are printed onto the parachute. The parachute as such is ...
Project outline (Version Ia): ‘Against the fall’ consists of a fully functioning white parachute and about 300 (or more) A4 rejection letters from art students and artists worldwide, which are printed onto the parachute. The parachute as such is ...
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W4573
25.05.2011
Emily Puthoff
WWW
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W4670
26.05.2011
Translating Missed Time  - April Lamm and Franz Stauffenberg
WWW
Translating Missed Time In Rococo England, 1751, the British usurped its citizens of 11 days. That is, September 3 became September 14th with the wave of a parliamentary wand. Riots ensued, placards were held high in the streets proclaiming “Give u ...
Translating Missed Time In Rococo England, 1751, the British usurped its citizens of 11 days. That is, September 3 became September 14th with the wave of a parliamentary wand. Riots ensued, placards were held high in the streets proclaiming “Give u ...
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W10895
23.03.2015
The Great Wall Archive - The Bureau for Transgressive Tourism and the Acquisition of its Archives
WWW
The Great Wall Archive presents many potential narratives through the collection and exhibition of an excess of specific and seemingly arbitrary information. Its conception was spurred by a curiosity in the ways we communicate with one another, specifical ...
The Great Wall Archive presents many potential narratives through the collection and exhibition of an excess of specific and seemingly arbitrary information. Its conception was spurred by a curiosity in the ways we communicate with one another, specifical ...
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W4683
26.05.2011
B/M/E: time reconfigured onsite & online 2002-2032  - Robert Lawrence
WWW
B/M/E: time reconfigured onsite & online 2002-2032 Beginning/Middle/End is a 30 year series of site-specific installations/performances/interventions, with augmenting web components. Choreographing threads of multiple strategies through physical and vir ...
B/M/E: time reconfigured onsite & online 2002-2032 Beginning/Middle/End is a 30 year series of site-specific installations/performances/interventions, with augmenting web components. Choreographing threads of multiple strategies through physical and vir ...
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W3964
21.05.2011
THE LIBRARY - Liliana Gelman
WWW
The library is a project about books and readers. It consist of two parts, one is the photographic register of books rescued from the street, the beach, or even from the garbage, over my years of immigrant in Israel. los libros de la biblioteca no tie ...
The library is a project about books and readers. It consist of two parts, one is the photographic register of books rescued from the street, the beach, or even from the garbage, over my years of immigrant in Israel. los libros de la biblioteca no tie ...
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W4422
25.05.2011
Drew Denny
WWW
After being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor, I designed this architectural rendering for my brain as a house. I would construct an installation of my Brain House so that I might lead audiences through it as I perform my memories, fantasies, dreams ...
After being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor, I designed this architectural rendering for my brain as a house. I would construct an installation of my Brain House so that I might lead audiences through it as I perform my memories, fantasies, dreams ...
W4257
24.05.2011
PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW COLUMBUS AVENUE COMMUNITY ENTRANCE PLAZA 1998 - Kristin Jones / Andrew Ginzel
WWW
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW COLUMBUS AVENUE COMMUNITY ENTRANCE PLAZA 1998 American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Proposal for the new Columbus Avenue Community Entrance Plaza. Polsheck and Partners, Architects ...
KRISTIN JONES / ANDREW GINZEL PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW COLUMBUS AVENUE COMMUNITY ENTRANCE PLAZA 1998 American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Proposal for the new Columbus Avenue Community Entrance Plaza. Polsheck and Partners, Architects ...
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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 ...
W5128
18.09.2012
Berliner Bahnhöfer - Saana Inari
WWW
About the project called 'Berliner Bahnhöfer', in Berlin, 18.09.2012 Saana Inari info@saana-inari.net Moving to Berlin, it is almost impossible to ignore the history of the city. As I am interested on how cities are structured and how people move ...
About the project called 'Berliner Bahnhöfer', in Berlin, 18.09.2012 Saana Inari info@saana-inari.net Moving to Berlin, it is almost impossible to ignore the history of the city. As I am interested on how cities are structured and how people move ...
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W3987
21.05.2011
MEMORY CONFETTI  - STEPHEN j SHANABROOK / VERONIKA GEORGIEVA
WWW
The project MEMORY CONFETTI consists of two parts: through various social network sites we will introduce the project and request the public’s time based participation in sending us images that will be turned into 35 mm slides. These slides mixed with n ...
The project MEMORY CONFETTI consists of two parts: through various social network sites we will introduce the project and request the public’s time based participation in sending us images that will be turned into 35 mm slides. These slides mixed with n ...
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W10499
01.05.2014
White Point - Meeting Point - Esther Shalev-Gerz
WWW
Oslo, Norway, 2004 Permanent Installation In 2004 Esther Shalev-Gerz conceived White Point – Meeting Point as her invited proposal to the juried competition for a public artwork for Oslo’s new Centre for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Mi ...
Oslo, Norway, 2004 Permanent Installation In 2004 Esther Shalev-Gerz conceived White Point – Meeting Point as her invited proposal to the juried competition for a public artwork for Oslo’s new Centre for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Mi ...
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W4147
23.05.2011
The End of Art Theory - Cornford & Cross
WWW
The End of Art Theory We were invited to submit proposals for the 2002 Liverpool Biennial. We proposed to commission a Group 4 private security vehicle and uniformed crew, as used by HM Courts and Prison Service to transport defendants. During the Bi ...
The End of Art Theory We were invited to submit proposals for the 2002 Liverpool Biennial. We proposed to commission a Group 4 private security vehicle and uniformed crew, as used by HM Courts and Prison Service to transport defendants. During the Bi ...
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W4772
29.05.2011
Unrealized Artist Identity - Katharina Galla
WWW
Unrealized Artist Identity This project is a life. Embodied by a person, who is frequently reckoned to be an artists. "So, you are an artist…", they say. Sometimes, I embrace my unrealized identity. It feels like a factoid, not a li ...
Unrealized Artist Identity This project is a life. Embodied by a person, who is frequently reckoned to be an artists. "So, you are an artist…", they say. Sometimes, I embrace my unrealized identity. It feels like a factoid, not a li ...
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W4399
25.05.2011
Go Find me a Boy - Mansha Chhatwal
WWW
I, Mansha Chhatwal, am an artist with a background in advertising. After a 15 year stint in advertising, during which I worked in several agencies including Rediffusion Y&R, Bates India, Everest brand communications and Mudra DDB , I quit finally about a ...
I, Mansha Chhatwal, am an artist with a background in advertising. After a 15 year stint in advertising, during which I worked in several agencies including Rediffusion Y&R, Bates India, Everest brand communications and Mudra DDB , I quit finally about a ...
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W4727
26.05.2011
Household aluminium foil sculptures - Michel NORTH
WWW
Household aluminium foil sculptures – development of a “fa presto” technique in sculpture Those are two examples of statues (image 1: 1978; image 2: 1985), unrealised in that sense that the technique used and developed by me about 50 years ago ...
Household aluminium foil sculptures – development of a “fa presto” technique in sculpture Those are two examples of statues (image 1: 1978; image 2: 1985), unrealised in that sense that the technique used and developed by me about 50 years ago ...
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W3574
12.05.2011
Intravenous Robot Painting Arm Extension Version #1 - Peter T. Christenson
WWW
The proposed unrealized project tentatively titled Intravenous Robot Painting Arm Extension Version #1 would be comprised of IV tubing and a variation of my microbot—an amoeba of a robot built with a paintbrush, a 3VDC Micro Vibration Motor, and a 3V l ...
The proposed unrealized project tentatively titled Intravenous Robot Painting Arm Extension Version #1 would be comprised of IV tubing and a variation of my microbot—an amoeba of a robot built with a paintbrush, a 3VDC Micro Vibration Motor, and a 3V l ...
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