MSCHF built its reputation on projects that travelled faster as internet moments than as gallery objects, and now one of its founders is stepping away from the collective model. Lukas Bentel founded the group with Daniel Greenberg, Stephen Tetreault, Gabriel Whaley and Kevin Wiesner. Its best-known interventions include an ATM leaderboard shown at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2022 and the oversized Big Red Boots that became a fashion meme in 2023, both examples of work designed to cross from art spaces into wider popular culture.

Bentel announced on 26 October that he is striking out on his own. In the group's statement he praised its collective efforts while drawing a distinction between speed and staying power, saying the team had moved quickly at MSCHF but that he wanted to return to designing stories that last. His stated aim is to make work that stays with people long after the initial moment has passed, a shift in emphasis from virality towards durability.

What comes next, on the announcement as reported, is deliberately broad. Bentel plans solo art and commercial work, alongside collaborations with his brother Nik Bentel. No first solo project, exhibition date or gallery was named in the bulletin item, so the story for now is the split itself and what it signals about a collective whose currency has been the fast-moving stunt. Whether a slower, longer-lived practice can carry the same audience without the MSCHF name attached is the open question the departure leaves behind.