You’ve probably heard of NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens lately as there seems to be a surge in trading NFTs. Actually, they are not something new and go back at least 5 years when CryptoKitties, a collection of artistic images representing virtual cats were traded. But it was only in 2020 that NFTs grew in popularity and caught on in the art world.
So what are NFTs? They are unique identifiers recorded on a distributed ledger known as Blockchain and tied to a digital asset. Such assets can be pictures, videos, music, or other records (even vehicle VIN numbers). The important qualifier is that each token must be unique. It must be the only one of its type in the universe and owners are able to guarantee asset authenticity, scarcity, programmability and trackability over the internet.
Auctioning Lamborghini NFTs
Recently, Lamborghini also got into the NFT thing and, together with NFT PRO and RM Sotheby’s, will receive bids on the five pairs of physical and digital artworks by the renowned artist Fabian Oefner. Each auction will last for 75 hours and 50 minutes, the exact time it took Apollo 11 to leave Earth and enter the moon’s orbit – but that’s not the only reference to human space exploration.
The physical artwork, known as the Space Key, contains carbonfibre pieces that Lamborghini sent to the International Space Station back in 2020, as a part of a joint research project. Engraved with a unique QR code, these carbonfibre parts link the digital element – a series of 5 photographs of a Lamborghini Ultimae, lifting off toward the stars.
A complex composition
The images depict 5 separate moments within seconds from each other as the car rises above the earth. Its parts, the engine, the transmission, the suspension and hundreds of nuts and bolts are shooting away from the chassis like the exhaust flame of a rocket.
What may look like a computer-generated image is in fact entirely created from elements of the real world: the artist captured more than 1,500 individual parts of a real car. The photograph of the earth`s curvature was made by sending a weather balloon equipped with a camera to the edge of the stratosphere. The artist then carefully assembled all of these images into an artificial moment in time.
600-million pixel resolution
Each of the five NFTs has more than 600 million pixels. As one starts to zoom in, hidden details of these hyper realistic photographs are revealed. The resolution is so enormous that you can read tiny markings on the firing order of the V12 engine or marvel at the different milling patterns on the transmission cog wheels. The longer you look at the composition, the more secrets you discover…
“For me, ‘Space Time Memory’ is an analogy to the memories we make in life. Memories are rooted in the physical world; we make them in reality. We then store them in our brains, what could be considered the digital world. I often wonder, what is more precious to me, the actual moment or the memory of that moment? Analog to that, I wonder with the ever-increasing amount of digital realities around us, what is more precious, reality itself or the copies and derivatives of it, that exist in the digital universe,” explained Oefner on the idea behind his creation.
At the start of the project, Oefner meticulously studied the engineering plans of the Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae and created an accurate sketch of what the final photograph will look like. Based on that sketch, Lamborghini prepared all the necessary parts and components of a production ready Ultimae. The pieces were then photographed by Oefner and his team in a makeshift photo studio right next to the production line at the Lamborghini factory.
Upon returning to his studio in the USA, he combined the countless images into the composition envisioned in the sketch. It took Oefner and his team more than 2 months to create a moment and it is shorter than the blink of an eye.
