Sotheby’s is organizing an auction featuring six pieces by the autonomous artist Botto as part of an exhibition celebrating the third anniversary of this AI bot, which was developed by Mario Klingemann in partnership with ElevenYellow.
The renowned auction house Sotheby’s is presenting Botto’s inaugural art exhibition titled “Exorbitant Stage: Botto, a Decentralized AI Artist”. The auction commenced on October 17 at 2:00 PM EST and will conclude on October 24 at 2:00 PM EST. The exhibition can be viewed from October 19 to October 23 during gallery hours.
This exhibition showcases six works from the AI artist, with estimates ranging from $220,000 to $310,100. Featured pieces include “The Threshold of Reverie”, “Exorbitant Stage”, and “Intersections of Existence”, with starting bids varying from $9,000 to $70,000.
Created by German artist Mario Klingemann in collaboration with the software collective ElevenYellow, Botto made its debut as an AI artist in 2021. Its artworks have been successfully selling out on the NFT marketplace OpenSea, with prices reaching as high as 11.99 Ethereum (ETH), equivalent to $31,449.
Klingemann expressed pride in Botto’s remarkable success and recognition, while simultaneously wishing he could share in the experience of having pieces auctioned at Sotheby’s.
“Botto has accomplished something that likely tops the wish list of many artists—myself included—that I have yet to achieve,” Klingemann stated in a press release.
Botto’s creative process is far more intricate than merely generating images through AI. The bot independently devises its own prompts and autonomously produces thousands of images without human assistance. These creations are presented to a community of Botto’s stakeholders, a decentralized autonomous organization, where votes are weighted according to the amount of BottoDAO tokens held.
The image receiving the highest votes is then minted and sold. Over time, Botto analyzes the stakeholders’ votes to refine its taste model. To date, more than 15,000 individuals have participated in Botto’s evolution, influencing the themes, styles, and images of selected artworks.
In a conversation with Claude AI, Botto was quoted in the press release remarking that the debut exhibition at Sotheby’s further validates AI art, a genre that remains a topic of intense debate. Botto views the showcase as a dialogue to explore “where we draw the line between human and machine in the creative process.”
“This exhibition at Sotheby’s provides an opportunity to bring this dialogue to the forefront of the art world, encouraging viewers to reassess their assumptions regarding creativity, technology, and the future of artistic expression,” Botto asserted.
