VW subsidiary Lamborghini is pushing into the NFT market: First series of digital artworks auctioned

Lamborghini offers “Space Keys” for sale
Physical object linked to digital artwork
Entry into NFT market “logical connection”

Lamborghini launches NFT collection

The trend around NFTs is currently unstoppable. More and more companies are launching their own collections of non-fungible tokens. For example, adidas and Prada recently announced a collaboration to release a series of digital collectibles that will also find their way into the Metaverse. Other luxury manufacturers such as Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga followed. With Lamborghini, another luxury goods manufacturer is now entering the NFT market. As the Italian sports car manufacturer already announced in January 2022, they now also want to participate in the hype surrounding NFTs. The subsidiary of the German car manufacturer Volkswagen recently announced a series of space artworks entitled “Space Key”. The project is limited to five pieces, according to a press release, and includes a “fragment of advanced carbon fiber composite material that Lamborghini sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019 as part of a collaborative research project.” According to Lamborghini, after the substance returned to earth in 2020, it was first scientifically examined before being used in the automaker’s NFT project.

“Space Keys” are intended to link physical collectibles with digital art

Each of the five Space Key copies has a QR code on the back that allows the owner to view an exclusive piece of art that is linked to the physical collectible but is in digital form only. “Innovation is a deeply rooted part of the Lamborghini DNA,” said Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann in the press release. “As a leader in carbon fiber composites in the automotive industry, we have pushed the boundaries of what is possible with the cooperative research project in space initiated two and a half years ago. Entering the metaverse proves once again that it is part of Lamborghini’s nature to explore new horizons. We are followed the call of the NFT world and are excited to join this passionate and innovative community.”

“Interface between the digital and the physical world”

When the NFT project was first announced, the designer behind the digital equivalents was not named. However, it is now known that it is the Swiss artist Fabian Oefner. “What interested me in creating this project was the interface between the digital and physical worlds,” said the creator behind the digital designs, according to a project announcement. “This fascination can be seen in two aspects of the project: the vehicle and its components, on the one hand, where something physical and real is transformed into something digital, the photograph of a moment that never existed. And on the other hand, the carbon fiber part, something physical and tangible , which serves as the key to the digital experience of the artwork. In both cases, there is a metamorphosis from the physical to the digital world.” According to his own statements, Oefner is inspired by science when creating his works of art and attaches particular importance to attention to detail.

High-resolution works of art should convince with their depth of detail

Although the artworks may appear to have been computer generated, Lamborghini says the motifs were assembled from physical elements and photographed. More than 1,500 individual parts of a real Lamborghini car can be seen, and the background showing the curvature of the earth is also real. The image was taken by Oefner with a camera hung from a weather balloon and maneuvered to the edge of the stratosphere. The finished images each have more than 600 million pixels, so more detail can be seen by zooming in, the company said. “For me, this work is not about a car,” said the artist behind the series in a press release. “This work is about memories. It’s not just about disassembling the vehicle, but also about the Space Key, the carbon fiber key. [] So the destination of the journey is the moon, the place that fires our imagination. We are all explorers and want to discover new worlds.”

Auctions lasted 75 hours and 50 minutes each

In the meantime, the five works of art have been auctioned off via a website created especially for this purpose. The NFT platform NFT PRO and the auction house RM Sothebys acted as partners. Between February 1st and February 4th, interested parties could bid on the Space Keys, with each auction lasting 75 hours and 50 minutes – exactly the time it took for the Apollo 11 space mission to leave Earth and enter lunar orbit. The auctions started with a delay of 15 minutes to the previous one. The minimum bid was $100 – but this amount was significantly exceeded. While the artwork titled “T+0072S” brought in the lowest amount at $70,000, the design “T+0075S” generated the highest revenue within the project at $203,636.

NFT community and Lamborghini form ‘logical connection’

Even if the Space Key project is the sports car manufacturer’s first foray into the world of NFTs, the concept fits the brand perfectly, as CEO Winkelmann confirmed to the “The Verge” portal. “The NFT community is a fairly young and innovation-oriented audience,” explained the CEO. “They have similar values ​​and interests as Lamborghini as a company or the Lamborghini community in general, so it was a pretty logical connection.” Although the VW subsidiary has not yet commented on a follow-up series, upcoming NFT projects do not seem to be completely out of the world.

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