AIP-304: Create the Digital Art Movement Collection to acquire Yuga Assets (BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, and Punks and other notable NFTs for exhibition and donation to art institutions

[Machibigbrother]

Proposal Name: Create the Digital Art Movement Collection to acquire Yuga Assets (BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, and Punks and other notable NFTs for exhibition and donation to art institutions.

Proposal Category: Ecosystem Fund Allocation

Abstract

Create the Digital Art Movement Collection’, which will curate an NFT collection consisting of Yuga assets (BAYC, MAYC, BAKC and Punks), along with other notable NFTs (art and otherwise), to accelerate the advancement of the digital art movement globally.

Author Description

I am MachiBigBrother, a DeFi OG and BAYC Maxi. I proliferated BAYC in pop culture by acquiring and gifting over 50 BAYCs to leaders of the DeFi community, members of PleasrDAO, and Asian celebrities such as Jay Chou, JJ Lin, Stanley Huang, Vanness Wu, Bolin Chen, Kai Ko, 911’s 春風, ØZI.

I worked with the the founders of BAYC and produced, fully-funded, then gifted the Apes vs. Mutants mobile game to the community. I partnered with BAYC to run the official BAYC League of Legends team in 2021. I also built the first marketplace for Yuga assets, along with the ApeUSD stablecoin, backed by ApeCoin.

Team Description

Leaders of the DeFi community, Apes, Tastemakers, builders, advisors, community supporters, and industry partners. Team will receive no compensation from this AIP.

Lumberg.eth - BAYC 4646, Punk 8503
DeFi builder, Yearn multisig signer, Abracadabra multisig signer, PleasrDAO Advisory Council, MetaCartel Ventures founding member.

Jake Lee - BAYC 7297
Operations veteran, currently at 247 Comics, ex-Uber.

Jeremy Yang - BAYC 6447
Smart contract developer with multiple NFT / DeFi projects.

Linstro.ETH - BAYC 7606
Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of an award-winning global creative and brand management agency that has partnered with the world’s leading brands. Specializing in content production, brand management, licensing, ad endorsement, and social media.

foxslightly.eth - BAYC 2807
Prior to web3, worked for 10+ years as a business/tech analyst and product manager in the Fintech space. Currently serving on the Board for ThankApe as well as an Advisor for Beyond the Swamp magazine.

BlackApple.eth - BAYC 4371
Global Art Syndicate. Black Apple (@blackappleart) • Instagram photos and videos

Existing art institution connection: Anne Shih, Chair of the Board, Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California.

Motivation

Digital art remains underrepresented in the art world. I want to change this. I want digital art to be omnipresent. By creating and curating the Digital Art Movement Collection (aka “The DAM Collection”), we can proliferate appreciation for digital art worldwide thus leading to education and adoption.

There’s no better group of people than ApeCoin DAO members to cement our place in digital art history.

Rationale

This proposal is a movement to grow the culture of digital art by way of proliferating NFTs as a critical part of, as well as the natural evolution of the digital art movement, with BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, and Punks at the forefront.

By exhibiting this collection worldwide, we will make NFTs more accessible publicly and drive conversations around the benefits of digital art. This conversation will naturally lead to benefits of digital art, enabled via permissionless blockchains as well as proof of ownership, authenticity, and provenance. Educating the public about our space is key to mass appreciation.

All funds and assets will be transparently deposited and used via the multisig that governs the Digital Art Movement Collection.

As a community, we will collectively push this collection as the quintessential NFT collection of our time.

Benefit to ApeCoin Ecosystem

This will benefit the ApeCoin ecosystem by increasing awareness of ApeCoin’s cultural influence in digital art.

Staking ApeCoin to receive governance for the Digital Art Movement Collection.

Specifications

Fellow tastemakers and I, along with the community, will decide how to execute the selection and curation of the NFTs via the Digital Art Movement (“DAM”) governance token.

Funds received will only be used for activities relating to the creation, curation and administration of the Digital Arts Movement Collection. Any proceeds generated from this collection will be added to the multisig for expenses related to the operations. This includes IP licensing, exhibition, staking and and all other proceeds.

DAM Tokens

DAM tokens will be a fair-launch project, with zero team token allocation. Initial token distribution will go to users that timelock ApeCoin for up to 5 years, decentralizing governance to the ApeCoin community. One ApeCoin locked for 5 years creates an initial balance of one timelocked APE (tlAPE), with the balance decaying linearly over time toward unlock. This means 100 ApeCoins locked for 5 years is equal to 500 ApeCoins locked for 1 year.

30% for initial distribution to ApeCoin stakers over 5 years. Distribution will be frontloaded, with distribution reducing every 6 months.

70% for the Treasury, to be determined by tokenholder vote.

Collection will contain at least 70% Yuga assets, 30% optionally for other notable NFTs.

Machi Exclusion - Machi will not have control of any keys nor will Machi be compensated in any way from this proposal. Machi is doing this because he has been a major supporter of BAYC since day 1 and a driving force in the NFT space.

Steps to Implement

1. Create a Digital Art Movement Collection Safe multisig. Key holder selection can include top AIP voters, both FOR and AGAINST, and trusted members of the community.

2. Send Foundation-approved quantity of ApeCoin to the newly-formed Digital Art Movement Collection Safe multisig.

3. Machibigbrother and the tastemaker team will execute the selection and curation of the NFTs.

4. To avoid any conflicts of interest, the Digital Art Movement Collection will be restricted from buying any NFTs owned by Machibigbrother and the tastemaker team. Nor will they acquire any NFTs recently (within 1 month) transferred or sold by Machi and the team.

5. The Digital Art Movement Collection will reach out to institutions of art appreciation such as museums, schools, and galleries and begin arranging collection exhibits, and gallery showings.

Timeline

The team is ready and the project will begin as soon as the AIP is passed.

Collection Milestones:

1. Initial curation of the collection
2. First showing/event of the collection
3. Grants of NFTs to notable art institutions, e.g.- The LACMA, The Getty Center, The Louvre, The Met

Governance Milestones:

1. Creation of the Collection and multisig
2. Deployment of governance token and staking process for token distribution

There is no completion date, as the project will be ongoing and self-sustaining. We intend to deploy at least 50% of our capital budget within the first year.

Overall Cost

11,000,000 ApeCoin to be provided in tranches via a mechanism to be determined together with the APE Foundation at a later date.

[shillin_villian]

how will you be deciding which 1000 BAYC/2000 MAYC etc… will be purchased

regardless i do believe this is the best use of the apecoin treasury, most if not all other AIP’s I’ve read do not have any type or quantifiable price impact into the Yuga ecosystem

[MisterHype]

Hi @Machibigbrother,

Happy to see you here. That’s an intriguing idea (I also offered to donate 100 from the pixelated apes). It’s always great to see passion for promoting digital art and NFTs. Some questions and thoughts for further discussion:

1. How will you determine which museums will receive the donated NFTs? Will there be a specific criteria or selection process in place?

2. While the idea of circulating a worldwide exhibit tour sounds exciting, I think the AIP should cover costs of displaying these digital artworks? And operation to run it.

3. How will the DAO involve the community in the selection and curation process?

I hope these questions help the discussion.

-Mr. Hype🔥

[Winters]

From the bottom up! Duh!

[KarSun01]

It’s a good question since it shouldn’t just be floor apes

[ssp1111]

Heyo MBB,

Presuming this proposal makes it to an AIP and passes, do you have any preference as to which marketplace the purchases are executed on, will they go through our approved marketplace, OTC or something else?

As a reminder to those reading this idea and that may not know, the ApeCoin DAO has an approved marketplace developed by Snag Solutions:

@zheerwagen

In September AIP-98 was approved to build an official marketplace for ApeCoin DAO with overwhelming support for a marketplace built for apes by apes. Since launching apecoinmarketplace.com in late November we’ve built the best buying experience by customizing the experience with metadata enhancements including staking data and matched items, social features, and building P2P trading to support collectors with 0-fees.

Also, do you have a general idea of the costs for this proposal?

Cheers

SSP

[adamilenich]

I’m fully supportive of this.

I’d love to know (1) how will NFTs be selected for this collection to showcase the broadest/best traits to increase the demand for these collections and (2) how will decisions be made about if/when to offload these assets?

[Brooklyn]

The number proposed seems excessive and would be $60M +, but I think if key museums/galleries were targeted and they voiced interest in holding it in their archives and would be willing to display it regularly - then it could be beneficial. It would be a good idea to identify the recipients and open a dialogue prior to the vote.

[8zal]

I think the difficulty with this proposition is that people could easily manipulate it-- and frontrun it (either by listing/delisting Apes)

[BinaryMonster]

So whats the ROI here for the apecoin DAO / Yuga ecosistem?
I dont see this benefiting the apecoin nor the Otherside, just by giving out the BAYC to museum the benefit if any the BAYC gets is very very limited

I have to say by having this proposal in voting stage to me it will discredit and stain the Apecoin DAO, and passing it will destroy the apecoin value

Also this proposal tells me “lets create temporary artificial pump and be my exit liquidity”
by Machi for Machi

[Sasha]

(20x coz 20 chars minimum forum requirement)

[themetavince]

I feel like the most equitable manner to select the apes for this proposal is to sweep the floor over a finite period of days, for instance 90 days or so. Also, 10% from each collection seems way to high, would recommend something closer to 1%

[Mr.and89]

it is an extremely expensive proposition that does not benefit Apecoin holders but does benefit the nft holders of the collections you listed who would see the floor price increase thanks to the increase in demand.

[Jimbol]

Love the idea. It’s always intriguing to see an AIP that could potentially implement a diminishing mechanism, making BAYC even rarer. I have two questions:

1. Since an ape is more than just art and also serves as a membership pass with future utility, how are we addressing this once we donate to someone or an organization? For instance, in terms of airdrops, it could imply actual costs for YUGA. Will the donated pieces remain eligible for future utility?

2. For exhibition purposes, don’t we only need 1000 apes to license their IP to fulfill the mission?

[BinaryMonster]

I just cannot believe that some of you are supporting this, do you guys even comprehend the consequences and the damage that this will cause to our DAO treasury and apecoin?
Giving out most of our treasury with NO benefits for our DAO is basically killing this project MASSIVE potential and its cutting off good chunk of future grants for our most needed development

[BlackApple]

One of the best ideas I have seen so far and imo checks all the boxes of both driving value to holders, global cultural brand catalysts,s and brand awareness. I would think there would have to be some deep thought on the strategy using a mix of market and OTC sales in tranches to prevent both gaming such large acquisitions as well as ensuring the best cost basis for the dao. There would also have to be provisions for what would be done for all future claims and airdrops for this collection would receive, possibly a community reward system of sorts. Given the current price environment, this is a no-brainer.

[Kalamona]

It’s just bad idea.

1. BAYC, MAYC, should be live assets, active in the ecosystem, not buried somewhere just to lower supply, because that’s what this proposal is really about.
2. It’s waste of DAO resources, for short-term benefit mainly for few traders who will watch this proposal closely and will manipulate market.
3. If we really want go this way we can buy 1 BAYC or MAYC per year and donate to museum, no that crazy amount in proposal.

[BlackApple]

I fail to see how this is “killing” anything. I agree on the massive dao potential but imo this potential has yet to be tapped and the resources have been sitting for over a year with nothing significant done. Even if this proposal was approved for the full amount needed, there would still be a massive treasury in place for countless future proposals and wouldn’t prevent a single “future grant” for what you seem to see as “our most needed development”. Maybe expand on what these future grants could be and how this proposal, if passed, would impede on them.

[BinaryMonster]

You want me to name which proposals are yet to be made in future that will contribute to our project?
Sorry but I’m not a creative machine that will spill out ideas on the spot.

[Directivecreator]

That seems like quite a lot.
What museums would it be donated to?

Perhaps its better to start this off with a way lower amount, and make a list of recipients first.

That way you can also discuss placement/how the artwork would be displayed.

Another idea would be to just create a small limited curated set and have that “travel” from museum to museum, exhibition, gallery. Similar to traditional artwork.

Would give you the same exposure, at a lot lower cost.