Lamborghini released in late January details for the auction of their first-ever NFT, in partnership with NFTPro and RM Sotheby’s, which took place in early February. The NFT consists of five pairs of physical and digital artworks by Swiss artist and photographer Fabian Oefner, portraying a Lamborghini Ultimae launching off into space. The bidding opened on February 1 (on the day of the lunar new year) and closed on February 4, with each auction lasting 75 hours and 50 minutes – the exact time it took Apollo 11 to leave the earth and enter the moon’s orbit. 

The physical aspect of the artwork is the Space Key, at first unassuming, but with absolutely remarkable features: it contains carbon fibre pieces that Lamborghini sent to the International Space Station back in 2020 as part of a joint research project. The Space Key is also engraved with a unique QR code linking to five photographs of the Lamborghini Ultimae lifting off the earth and into space. These photographs show five separate moments within seconds or each other, as the car – much like a rocket would – shoots from the earth and sheds its “exhaust flame” parts. 

Even more remarkable is the fact that these images were not computer-generated, but entirely created from real world elements. Oefner captured over 1500 individual parts of a very real car, and the photo of the earth is the result of a weather balloon’s camera at the edge of the stratosphere. To add to this, each NFT has over 600 million pixels, amounting to an enormous resolution. This allows the viewer to discover dozens of hidden details as they zoom in – even the smallest markings on the V12 engine. 

Fabian Oefner often explores the boundaries between time, space and reality, creating fictional moments and spaces that look and feel real. He explained in an interview with Lamborghini that he is a kid of the space age, with which come many memories.

“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?” – Fabian Oefner

The process of the project might be even more mind-boggling than the resulting artworks – of course, Oefner first had to study the engineering plans of the Lamborghini Ultimae, which helped him create a sketch. Then, once Lamborghini had gathered all the required parts and components of the car, Oefner and his team built a makeshift photo studio right next to the actual production line at the Lamborghini Factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese, where they then photographed the pieces before returning to his New York studio to combine the images. This process took over two months, all to create a moment shorter than the blink of an eye. 

NFTPro is the number one enterprise NFT solution for global brands, offering services such as NFT campaigns, sale strategy and management of digital assets. RM Sotheby’s is the world’s largest collector car auction house. 

As a quick reminder: NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique identifiers recorded on a ledger (Blockchain) and tied to digital assets such as images, videos, music or otherwise. Each token is unique, which guarantees authenticity, scarcity and trackability over the Internet.

Pictures: Lamborghini