Beeple launches the next art project to sell moments in time as NFTs

Digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, unveiled his next venture on Thursday, a website called WENEW, which allows people to buy and own historic moments as NFTs, and “immortalizing these moments of human achievement.”

Earlier this March, Beeple made headlines after Christie’s auctioned his artwork as an NFT for $69 million. Now he’s launching an NFT platform that’ll sell iconic moments in time.

The new platform, called WENEW, curates these iconic cultural milestones and offers them up as digital collectibles on the Ethereum blockchain via auctions or direct sale at a variety of price points.

WENEW describing itself as a “memory palace of the metaverse,” pulling together moments across politics, music, fashion, and sports as longtime collaborations with several cultural icons, including TIME, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, etc. Ryan Schreiber, the founder of Pitchfork, joined Wenew as editor-in-chief and will be curating the moments sold on the platform.

“Beeple seeks to change the way the public interacts with history-making moments and our collective memory of them,” said in a press release on the site. “By curating and releasing NFTs of the most memorable moments in music, fashion, sports, politics, and more, WENEW unites the world’s most celebrated icons with savvy collectors of culture and legacy.”

Brokered by Endeavor’s IMG and in partnership with Wimbledon Wenew’s first NFT series illustrates tennis champion Andy Murray’s winning journey on Wimbledon in 2013.

There are five NFTs available: 500 editions of his 2013 highlights, 100 editions of the 2012 runner-up speech, 50 editions of Murray’s victory speech, 20 editions of the trophy ceremony, and one edition of the winning moment.

“A lot of things in the NFT world feel like a cash grab right now, and we wanted to put storytelling first,” said Michael Figge, a Wenew co-founder.

“Each WENEW moment pays reverence to the figures who made it possible as well as its original cultural context,” the site explains. “Every moment in the WENEW collection originates with those who lived it. Their personal authentication, or that of their estates, is essential to WENEW certification, ensuring every moment is directly traceable to its source on the Ethereum blockchain.”

The NFT’s pricing varies from $49 to $4,999 each, some of the expensive lots will be accompanied by memorable bonuses — Murray’s signatures on posters, tickets to Wimbledon 2022, a trophy’s replica, a looping video on a “museum-quality screen” for display, so on.

In addition, the owner of the highest NFT will also get the opportunity of 30 minutes to play tennis with Murray on a court at Wimbledon, a VIP tour behind the scenes, and two tickets to Center Court for the 2022 Wimbledon finals.

By Beeple’s words, he sees NFTs as the future of art and collectibles.

“NFTs represent a new paradigm, not just in how people can invest their money but in how we conceive of our shared experience and how we celebrate remarkable achievements,” he claims in a statement on the site. “They give people a way to meaningfully engage with the memories and moments that matter to them — maybe even inspired them or shaped who they are in some way. WENEW exists to facilitate and make concrete these once-abstract connections.”

The first auction will take place from July 2-5 on the WENEW website.

As reported before, Porsche has launched the startup Fanzone to issue and trade collectible NFTs with athletes of the German national team on it.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/game-set-token-murray-cashes-2013-wimbledon-win-2021-06-24/