21 Sep 2023/length unknown/The Guild
MLow X The Guild
The only panel in the archive: five members of The Guild, the first non fungible organization for art, look back on two and a half years of mass collaboration after winding it down.
This never published hour is the archive's only multi guest recording: Valerie Geerken, Rutger van der Tas, ej thek, Shinji Akhirah, and Ytje Veenstra of The Guild, which Geerken introduces as the first non fungible organization for art. Formed in the early pandemic days of 2020 and run until December 2022, the self funded collective pushed collaboration to extremes: over 50 artists on a single project, releases like the Cyber Watch (the highest sale on Async at the time, roughly 88 ETH, later traced to the same collector group behind the Beeple purchase), Pandora's Box (the first nested NFTs on Ethereum via the Charged Particles protocol, sold for 42 ETH to an anonymous collector), a sold out esports PFP collaboration, and the Year of the Ox piece 0x, shown in Shanghai and still listed at a symbolic 278 ETH with a physical bull board donated by Shinji attached.
Because the organization had already wound down, the group speaks with unusual freedom about what killed it: chasing deadlines, members who half participated, artists submitting signature pieces instead of catching a shared vision, and a bear market that drained everyone. Shinji describes the structure as a meritocracy with no CEO and no elite tier, and defends the unsold pieces as snapshots of pandemic friendship that cannot really be priced. Rutger goes further: nobody is trying to sell, the work sits on chain gathering history, and that is enough. MLow, ever the market mind, suggests editions, floats the just passed Bored Ape council proposal to buy 11 million dollars of art as a buyer for 0x, and pitches a future Transient Labs collaboration.
The second act is the survivors' plan: a small core team bridging crypto art and PFP culture through the Kekleberry eggs, hand drawn one by one by Moxarra rather than cookie cutter traits, launched for Turkey, Syria, and New Zealand disaster relief and grown into the humor driven Kexter characters. Geerken recounts getting the group into the Auckland Art Show on 48 hours notice as the only NFT artists in a traditional show, and closes with the episode's thesis: those who stay through the bear market are the true visionaries. MLow answers with his own: people never answered his DMs in the bull, and now they do.
What this episode teaches
- Momentum is the scarce resource in mass collaboration
Rutger's hard won rule from projects with dozens of artists: give contributors freedom inside a small framework, keep everyone enthusiastic, and keep it short, because long timelines wreck deadlines and lose people. Some artists thrive with tight orders and others disappear under them.
- Flat structures fail at the follow through
The Guild ran as a meritocracy: no CEO, no elite tier, everyone contributes and benefits. It ended because organizers spent their energy chasing half participating members who missed deadlines or ignored the shared theme. The lesson the core team drew was to shrink to a small team that actually shows up.
- Not selling can be the strategy
The big collaborative pieces sit unsold at high prices on purpose. Pricing at 1 ETH would move them but would not do justice to the work, so the group lets them gather history on chain, glad to be part of it whether or not a collector ever appears. Shinji frames them as unpriceable snapshots of pandemic era friendship.
- Split contracts make 50 artist projects payable
ej thek points out that when a piece finally sells, the funds split instantly and fairly to every artist's address, with nobody reconstructing who is owed what years later. Rutger admits some older non Async pieces will still need manual splitting, proving the point.
- Bridge communities through a character, not an organization
The Kexter account speaks as a neutral PFP character using humor and lore rather than as an org promoting itself, because PFP collectors who never engage with crypto art will follow a funny egg. Each Kekleberry is fully hand drawn by Moxarra, the anti cookie cutter argument built into the art.
- Give a percentage away, consistently
Across its whole run the Guild donated part of every sale to charities: cancer societies, children's causes, Ukraine mental health relief, Turkey and Syria earthquake response. The practice outlived the organization itself, and it is what first drew MLow, a cancer survivor, to them.
- The bear market is when people answer
MLow's own testimony: during the bull, DMs went unanswered; now everyone is heads down and reachable, and building through the bear has propelled his career. Valerie's version: the ecosystem can go to zero and it does not matter, because those who stay are the visionaries who will define the next cycle.
- Use AI as a brushstroke, not a career
ej thek collects on new AI platforms but filters hard for artists using AI as one tool in a larger process rather than posting raw prompt output for collect passes. Rutger compresses it: it is a new sort of brushstroke for your paintings.
The conversation, topic by topic
What the Guild was
Valerie Geerken opens with the history: the first non fungible organization for art, formed in the early pandemic in 2020, run for about two and a half years until December 2022, always self funded by the core team, with collaboration as its entire premise.
The Cyber Watch
A collective piece launched during a bear market that became the highest sale ever made on the Async platform at the time, roughly 88 ETH. Rutger later reveals the buyers were the same group behind the landmark Beeple purchase, and that artists themselves bought several of its layers; Rutger owns figure number three, and longtime supporter Basileus collected as well.
Pandora's Box and Charged Particles
A first of its kind release: the first NFTs nested inside an NFT on the Ethereum chain, using the Charged Particles protocol (earlier nesting had happened only on other chains). It sold for 42 ETH to a collector who remains anonymous, the highest sale on Charged Particles.
0x, the Year of the Ox
A Bull Run era piece timed to the lunar Year of the Ox, shown in Shanghai, made with a Korean studio Valerie links to Gangnam Style. Shinji donated a physical bull board that transfers with the piece, which is listed around a symbolic 278 ETH, a nod to Ethereum's launch date. MLow immediately suggests submitting it to the Bored Ape council, which just passed a proposal to buy 11 million dollars of art.
The Mariupol piece for Ukraine
When the war broke out, John Karp of France's NFT Factory asked if the Guild could deliver in two weeks. The result: a black and white layered Async piece inspired by Guernica, with layers assigned to individual artists, proceeds to a charity supporting Ukrainian children's mental health. Four or five layers have sold; ej thek names it one of the pieces he is proudest of.
Why the Guild wound down
Bear market fatigue, mounting liabilities on a self funded core team, artists stepping away, and the exhaustion of chasing contributors ended operations in December 2022. Valerie frames the wind down as evolution, not death: a small core team now works with artists directly instead of running a large organization.
The Kekleberry and the Kexters
Launched after the Turkey and Syria earthquakes and the New Zealand cyclone, initially on Ordinals, as a charity project that grew a lore driven world. Every egg is hand drawn from scratch by Moxarra with traits added by ej thek, Rutger, and others: deliberately not cookie cutter PFPs. The mission is bridging crypto art and PFP culture, spotlighting smaller artists the big platforms never feature, and correcting false narratives like Beeple having started crypto art.
Who is in the room
Valerie has been in crypto since 2016 and NFTs since 2019, has advised blockchain companies including Cryptovoxels, and lives in New Zealand. Rutger, in the Netherlands, dropped out of art school at 20, finished it ten years later, explored blockchain collectibles in 2018, and has minted on SuperRare since 2019, weaving physical painting into digital work. ej thek paid his way through school with graphic design and photography and now works abstract.
AI as tool versus end product
ej thek experimented with Playform and pre Stable Diffusion tools but now uses AI less, put off by prompt-to-career accounts flooding new platforms. He collects only where AI is part of a larger process. MLow and Rutger agree: AI is for concepting and fast exploration, a new brushstroke, best when mixed with painting or 3D.
How a 50 artist collaboration actually works
The Guild pushed past 50 artists on a single project. ej thek describes the reality: brainstormed themes, artists who caught the vision and artists who just submitted their signature piece, Rutger and Shinji cleaning up submissions in the back end, and compositing jobs like Tomorrow Never Comes where ej wove wildly different styles into something cohesive.
The unsold question
MLow asks bluntly why pieces have not sold. Rutger answers that the first sale, Palimpsest (featuring Neurocolor, ROBNESS, and others, now owned by a collector MLow identifies as The Druid), set a high bar around 15 ETH, and the group refuses to sell low. MLow suggests editions; the group explains Async layers already let multiple collectors own unique parts of a shared work.
Favorites and Easter eggs
Shinji picks Tomorrow Never Comes for its speed and 0x for its momentousness; ej adds Alicia in Technoland, the Alice in Wonderland riff on SuperRare. 0x hides real treasures: a hidden ape that transfers to whoever buys the piece, a golden animated Ox nested as a proton inside Charged Particles, and a torn up dollar note contributed from a funny internet money series.
The Auckland Art Show and bear market conviction
With 48 hours notice, Valerie got the Kekleberry artists featured in the Auckland Art Show, one of New Zealand's biggest traditional shows, as its only NFT artists, fielding questions from traditional collectors. Her thesis: the tech keeps evolving, and those who stay through the bear are the true visionaries. MLow agrees: the bear is when people finally answer DMs, and building now has propelled his career.
MLow's plans and the Transient pitch
Asked what he wants from all this, MLow describes curating artists into conversation, several collections releasing soon, grad school at NYU studying social innovation and impact investing, and a proposed Guild collaboration on Transient Labs contracts: pieces that change over time, with the price of ether, or by other variables. Rutger calls dynamic work the next step for an audience getting bored of static images.
In their words
“The Guild was actually the first non fungible organization for art.”
Valerie Geerken“It's a tool. It's a new sort of brushstroke you can use for your paintings.”
Rutger van der Tas“We're just glad to be part of that history. It's not that we are out there trying to sell a piece.”
Rutger van der Tas“Many of us have not even met each other face to face yet, and here's successful projects happening.”
ej thek“Those who stay here during the bear market are the true visionaries.”
Valerie Geerken“During the bull, I would reach out to people and they just wouldn't answer DMs. Now people are heads down building, and when I reach out, they actually answer.”
MLowCite this conversation
The Guild in conversation with MLow, "MLow X The Guild," The MLow Show, unaired recording, 21 Sep 2023. https://show.mlow.xyz/e/2023-09-21-mlow-x-the-guild.html. Quoted from a machine transcript.
Quotations come from machine transcripts. Check wording against the audio before republishing.