Bang! Collective buys golden passports from NFT proceeds

The hope for a better, safer life does not coincide with the prospects: for thousands, the flight to Europe ends somewhere in the periphery, in the Morias, in the blind spots of public perception. With nothing in nothing, there is hardly a way out of impoverishment and overcrowded catchment basins. The Peng! Collective wants to find a way out – with the sale of NFTs.

While more and more capital is being washed into the financial markets, tug boats are sinking off the coast of Europe. Global wealth inequality was compounded by the pandemic, which widened the gap between those who have more and those who don’t even have enough to live on. The failure of the European community of values ​​leads to the cynical term refugee crisis, which seeks the causes of this humanitarian catastrophe among the displaced and rhetorically disguises the actual reasons. Europe is a fortress: who comes in or not is often decided by the small change. Anyone who has something is also worth a life in Europe and can buy a citizenship with the “golden passport”, usually through real estate. A perfidious system that opens the gates to wealthy criminals in particular. With their latest NFT campaign, the Peng! Collective shows how the admission ticket can also be used for good causes.

End of the line longing

On October 8th, the action art collective Peng! together with 16 international artists: inside das GoldenNFT program started. The aim of this campaign, which is so far unique in the art and crypto sector, is to enable families from Syria and Afghanistan to start a new life in Europe – with the purchase of “golden visas” through NFT sales. A total of 5,555 NFTs will be in a public sale from Wednesday, October 20, for a price of 0.05 Ether per token for sale. The project is part of the exhibition “Beat the System” in the Ludwig Forum for International Art Aachen and has attracted some top-class artists from the art scene. In addition to works by Sibylle Berg, Nora al Badri and Nadine Kolodziey, the collection also includes NFTs by the activist group The Yes Men.

NFT “spall” by Laura Zalenga

The highlight: Investors: inside buy a pig in a poke, so to speak. 16 NFTs are originals, the rest are individually composed of these templates as mesh-ups. The combination makes each NFT unique. Only after the collection is sold out will the NFTs be revealed. So you only know afterwards whether you have purchased an original or a composite NFT. There is calculation behind this. When the veil is pulled away from the NFTs, as objects of speculation, they are subject to the determination of value by supply and demand. The criticism of the GoldenNFT campaign is ambiguous. Market mechanisms are exposed and at the same time thwarted as a vehicle for social projects.

“We are trading away the borders of Europe”

The proceeds go to real estate in Portugal – as a guarantee for a golden passport. It also covers the costs of lawyers, tax advisors, flights and visa fees for the families. A total of around 630,000 euros would have to be raised for the first family. A Herculean task, given the dizzying sums that have been flowing in the crypto market and, for some months now, in the NFT market in particular, but probably not an impossible undertaking. It goes without saying that the Peng! Collective takes on the action at its own expense. The rest of the time is taken care of by the market. Of every NFT resale, 15 percent goes to the GoldenNFT wallet, which is used to pay for golden passes for other families.

BTC-ECHO talked to an organizer who goes by the name of Luca about the background and motivation. For Luca, the campaign is more than a donation project, it is an attempt to undermine the market and also a remedy for the feelings of powerlessness of many Europeans: “It is an experiment. We want to know whether the blockchain community is stronger than the EU ”. Those who take part are part of an action that is blurring the boundaries between art performance, aid project and investment. “Anyone who invests in us becomes part of the work of art,” says Luca.

A subtle difference

At the same time, the action is a criticism of a system of unequal distribution, which allows exorbitant profits for the financial elite in the markets, while people on the run drown in the Mediterranean Sea. “It can no longer be explained to anyone how, on the one hand, billions are shot around the globe with a click and, at the same time, people have to die at our borders. We want to short-circuit this system. ” The action makes use of the very market mechanisms that maintain the divide between the global north and south. “It is the first NFT Collection that allows a family to enter Europe. As investors, not as refugees. ” A subtle but crucial difference. Because Europe welcomes investors with open arms.

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