NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, seem inescapable these days. If it isn’t weird-looking monkeys and hexagonal Twitter profile pictures, it’s NFT-based cocktail menus or car service records. All pretty dumb, but all fairly inoffensive. Now, an artist called Shl0ms has destroyed a perfectly good Lamborghini to sell its parts as NFTs. And that seems like a step too far.
Honestly, I can’t wrap my head around it. Why take a perfectly fine, if a bit too garish for my liking, chrome Lamborghini Huracan and explode it into almost 1,000 pieces to then sell off as digital tokens?
Why not just sell the chunks of smouldering Italian supercar? Or, better yet, why not just sell the Lamborghini as it is so that someone else can enjoy it?
Well, that just wouldn’t be proper, would it? Instead, it’s become art. Beautiful, dark, twisted, fiery art. Art that, according to Fortune, was created to protest the “greed” surrounding cryptocurrency and NFTs.
Great, you’re combatting greed in crypto by selling things in exchange for crypto. Nice one. Very clever.
But, what do I know, I’m not a high-brow, art-loving tech bro. I just like cars. So, if you are a high-brow, art-loving tech bro, you might want to know a bit more about this absurd stunt.
The piece, called $Car, saw Shl0ms transport a chrome Lamborghini Huracan deep into the desert. Once it was a safe distance from anyone that might point out how ridiculous the whole thing was, the car was strapped with explosives and blown to smithereens.
The artist and their team then set about collecting up all 999 pieces that the Lamborghini had broken into. Each hunk of junk has since been videoed, and it’s these video files that bidders will be able to purchase through an online sale.
𒄭/𒐤
𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 $CAR:
𝟿𝟿𝟿 𝚎𝚡𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜
𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙻𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚒 𝙷𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 +
𝚊𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙 𝟶𝟸.𝟸𝟻.𝟸𝟸 ➞ https://t.co/AV6YAO4wlP
͏ pic.twitter.com/wRIFP2M4kp— 𒐪 (@SHL0MS) February 17, 2022
In total, 111 digital pieces will be distributed to everyone involved in the stunt, while the remaining 888 will be auctioned on February 25th. Prices will start at 0.01 Ether, which is around $US26 ($36) to people who like their cold, hard cash a little more fungible.
When the auction goes live, Shl0ms will also release the full video of the Lamborghini’s demise. Until then, there’s a teaser of the stunt on the artist’s Twitter account.
Shl0ms was also eager to point out that, unsurprisingly, the destruction of the Lamborghini Huracan is in no way “affiliated, associated, or endorsed” by the Italian car maker, VW or Audi.