This NYC Art Collective Is Giving Out Thousands of Car Keys… to 1 Car

Nobody will know where the car is located, but if you find it, it's yours.

Photo courtesy of MSCHF
Photo courtesy of MSCHF

New York City might become the new set of a—slightly more civil—Grand Theft Auto.

The Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF is launching its new Key4All drop today, an initiative that allows anybody to purchase one of thousands of copies of the same car key fob. Needless to say, they all unlock the same car.

There's no indication of what make and model the car is, or where it is actually located. The fun is in knowing that it could be anywhere in NYC, and anybody with a key fob in their hand could unlock it and drive it. There are a couple of ways to know if you're in the car proximity, though. One of them is by calling the hotline at +1 (337)-539-4255, which will provide hints and real-time data on the car's location and speed. The other is to simply walk around. If you're near the car, the key fob will change color to a green led.

The launch is MSCHF's attempt to revert socioeconomic assumptions. "The so-called sharing economy is a fiction, a buzzword that launched a thousand ships," reads the launch's manifesto. "As well-adjusted kindergarteners know and inexorably forget, the central fulcrum on which sharing rests is in fact that it is not an economy."

The concept is that of an ungovernable ZipCar, one that everybody can have at any given moment without owning it or knowing where it's parked. It's a game, but also a social experiment, which will last ideally forever, or more realistically "until the car is destroyed or impounded."

"The car is transient and un-ownable, a journey and temporary blessing. It is a contest without the security of victory," continues the manifesto. "If you find the car, it is yours. But if you want to enjoy the fruits of your victory and drive, then you must accept the risk of taking the car out in the world–that another driver-errant may snatch the vehicle out from under you."

If you're ready to play this game, you can head over to the Key4All website and purchase your copy of keys. Just make sure you have a valid driver's license first. Good luck!

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Serena Tara is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.