Invited as guest artists etoy.CORPORATION installed its mobile headquarter, studio and Internet node in the heart of Madrid to perform a commercial experiment on the edge of reality, that answered Madrid Abierto proposal in order to research the art industry. Two etoy.CARGO-TANKS landed on Plaza Colon during the night of January 29th/30th 2004.
etoy, famous for subversive PR stunts like the digital hijack (1,5 million online art hostages in 1996) or the online clash with the American 10 billion dollar corporation eToys inc. In late 1999 (TOYWAR, with 4 billion dollars the most expensive performance in art history), won several international art awards and regularly appears in popular media channels such as CNN, Wired News, Washington Post, NZZ, Tate Publishing, El País etc.
Between February 5th and 22nd 15 etoy.AGENTS from Italy, the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain aggregate in the physical world to operate a spectacular, living art installation on Plaza Colon. Dressed in their uniforms and equipped with identical high tech tools the etoy.CREW will conduct an art industry analysis to explore the acceptance for a different kind of culture economy. The fundamental question is: are collectors, galleries and the Spanish population ready to move away from traditional object ownership (paintings, photography and sculptures) and authorship (masters / stars) in order to test an alternative art production system? agent.MARCOS / etoy.CFO: “it is time to question the established models of cultureconomical exchange.”
THE EXPERIMENT
etoy.CORPORATION offers to participate in an open artwork that is not defined or produced yet. Collectors visiting the ARCO art fair as well as common people in the city who normally don’t buy art will have the opportunity to purchase etoy.
SHARES
Six different investment packages (from 2 euros to 30.000 euros) allow participation in a very special art work. etoy.CORPORATION will be using all investments acquired in Madrid to create and document concrete cultural value in the Hispanic market within the next 5 years (scale and locations depend on the volume and strategic partners). For their investment the cultural shareholders get the right to vote on project proposals and resolutions. etoy.CORPORATION is organizing the development process and serves as the information hub to coordinate the world wide planning and production. etoy’s advanced internet voting system, specific etoy.BLOGS and etoy.CHATS as well as many years of experience guarantee maximum impact (TRACK RECORD: www.etoy.com).
The new owners of etoy (already 2500 people participate world wide) will finance, produce and control the Spanish etoy.PROJECT. Their contribution and ownership is certified by a shareholder card and/or a unique etoy.SHARE-CERTIFICATE (see samples on www.secure.etoy.com or on www.etoy.com) that gives them access to internal reports and voting procedures for all future etoy.OPERATIONS.
DISCLAIMER
etoy.CORPORATION is a global corporate sculpture to share culture profits instead of maximizing financial wealth. etoy is a registered trade mark of the etoy.VENTURE association. Past success cannot guarantee future performance. Share redemption strictly limited.
MISION
the etoy.CORPORATION is a corporate sculpture officially incorporated 1994 in zurich. etoy is a typical early mover (online since 1994) and developed rapidly into a controversial market leader in the field of experimental internet entertainment and art. actions and services like the digital hijack (1996), etoy.TIMEZONE (1998), TOYWAR (1999/2000) or etoy.DAYCARE (2002) are classics of art. The etoy. CORPORATION is owned by more than 2000 etoy. SHAREHOLDERS: international art collectors, venture capitalists, the etoy.AGENTS, the etoy.MANAGEMENT, fans and a few hundred TOYWAR. soldiers (who protected the etoy.BRAND during the legendary TOYWAR.battle). The etoy.INVESTORS control and own the corporate sculpture etoy.
etoy does not sell isolated art objects. etoy sells, trades and exchanges parts of itself: “etoy.SHARES” represent participation and cultural value. all 640.000 etoy. SHARE-UNITS available on the international art market equal 100% of the etoy.POWER (=100% of the company). Unique and registered etoy.SHARE-CERTIFICATES and etoy.MAGNETIC-CODE-CARDS guarantee the strict limitation of etoy.SHARES.
Since 1998 orange etoy.TANKS (12 and 6 meter long standardized windowless shipping containers - the icons of globalisation) build etoy’s mobile and multifunctional office system including studios, hotels, conference rooms etc. where ever etoy is needed in the physical world, the orange etoy.TANKS pop up or vanish over night to infect the way people think and feel (i.e. in San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Zurich, Tokyo or Torino between 1998 and 2003). Depending on the market situation and projects between 5 and 15 etoy.CORE-AGENTS (currently 4 women and 11 men in switzerland, austria, italy, germany, japan and the usa) build the production and research crew of the etoy.CORPORATION. Day to day business is conducted by the etoy.MANAGEMENT (2 from 3 etoy.DIRECTORS must sign contracts).
etoy won several international art awards (i.e. the golden nica in the .net category / prix ars electronica) and regularly appears on TV (invited and uninvited) as well as in other traditional media channels to inject
the etoy.VIRUS: the New York Times, Silicon Valley Reporter, Washington Post, Wired News, NPR, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, NZZ, WOZ, La Repubblica, Relax Japan etc. etoy.CREW-MEMBERS lectured and spoke at the MIT media lab in Boston, UCSD in San Diego, DASARTS in Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, Intercommunication Center ICC in Tokyo, the Interactive Institute in Stockholm and at many international festivals.
etoy.DISCLAIMER: etoy.INVESTMENTS are not focused on financial profits.
the etoy.VENTURE is all about cultural revenue, social profit and intellectual capital generated with the invested resources.
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