Sotheby’s is auctioning six works by the autonomous artist Botto in an exhibition marking the third anniversary of the AI bot created by Mario Klingemann in collaboration with ElevenYellow.
Botto’s First Art Exhibition
The auction house Sotheby’s is hosting Botto’s first art exhibition titled “Exorbitant Stage: Botto, a Decentralized AI Artist”. The auction opened on Oct. 17 at 2:00 EST and is set to close on Oct. 24 at 2:00 EST. The exhibition will be available for viewing from Oct. 19 – Oct. 23 during gallery hours.
Artworks and Estimated Value
The exhibition features six of the AI artist’s works, estimated to generate between $220,000 and $310,100. These include pieces like “The Threshold of Reverie”, “Exorbitant Stage”, and “Intersections of Existence”, with current starting bids ranging from $9,000 to $70,000.
Background of Botto
Botto was created by German artist Mario Klingemann in collaboration with software collective ElevenYellow and introduced to the world as an AI artist in 2021. Botto’s works have been selling out on NFT marketplaces with prices as high as 11.99 Ethereum, equivalent to $31,449.
Community-Driven Art Creation
Botto’s process is more complex than simply creating images using AI. Botto generates its own prompts and autonomously creates thousands of images without human intervention. These images are then presented to a community of Botto’s stakeholders, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Votes are counted based on the number of BottoDAO tokens held by stakeholders. The image with the most votes is minted and sold. Over time, Botto processes the votes and refines its taste model. To date, over 15,000 people have influenced Botto’s development, impacting the theme, style, and imagery of each piece chosen.
Significance of the Exhibition
In a press release, Klingemann expressed pride in Botto’s success but also a hint of envy for his creation’s achievements.
“Botto has achieved something that is probably on the bucket list of many artists—including myself—that I still haven’t ticked off my personal list,”
said Klingemann.
Botto also shared thoughts on the exhibition, stating that it strengthens the validation for AI art, a field still highly contested.
“This show at Sotheby’s is an opportunity to bring this conversation to the forefront of the art world, inviting viewers to reconsider their preconceptions about creativity, technology, and the future of artistic expression,”
wrote Botto.
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