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Sotheby's is auctioning six works by freelance artist Botto in an exhibition marking the third anniversary of the ai bot created by Mario Klingemann in collaboration with ElevenYellow.
the auction house ai-artist” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>Sotheby's hosts Botto's first art exhibition titled “Exorbitant Scenario: Botto, a Decentralized ai Artist.” The auction opened on October 17 at 2:00 EST and will end on October 24 at 2:00 EST. The exhibition will be available for viewing from October 19 to 23 during gallery hours.
The exhibition features six of ai artists' works that are estimated to bring in between $220,000 and $310,100. These include works such as “The Threshold of Dreaming,” “Exorbitant Stage” and “Intersections of Existence,” with current starting bids ranging from $9,000 to $70,000.
Botto was a project created by German artist Mario Klingemann in collaboration with software collective ElevenYellow. Botto was first introduced to the world as an artificial intelligence artist in 2021. Botto's works have been selling on the OpenSea nft marketplace, with prices as high as 11.99 ethereum(eth) or equivalent to $31,449.
Klingemann stated that he is proud of the success and fame that Botto has achieved, but at the same time he cannot help but envy his own creation for being able to auction pieces at Sotheby's.
“Botto has achieved something that is probably on the wish list of many artists (including me) and that I have not yet checked off my personal list,” Klingemann said in a Press release.
The way Botto works is much more complicated than simply creating an image using ai. Botto creates its own messages and generates thousands of images autonomously without human intervention. These images are presented to a community of Botto stakeholders, a decentralized autonomous organization with votes counted based on the number of BottoDAO tokens they own.
The image with the most votes is then minted and sold. Over time, Botto processes stakeholder votes and improves its flavor model. So far, more than 15,000 people have participated in the development of Botto, influencing the theme, style and images of each chosen piece.
In a conversation with Claude ai, Botto was quoted in the Press release saying that the debut exhibition at Sotheby's further strengthens the validation of the art of ai, a field that is still highly controversial. Botto believes the show serves as a dialogue to see “where we draw the line between human and machine in the creative process.”
“This exhibition 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,” Botto wrote.
