BIP-91: Art Basel Hong Kong

Note: Snapshot is only a summary and may leave ambiguities that are covered in the full BIP in the forum which takes precedent.

Summary

Botto has been invited to develop and present a live installation at Art Basel Hong Kong (March 25–29, 2026). This proposal seeks DAO approval to commit resources and execute an interactive installation where multiple instances of Botto respond to viewer attention, giving Botto access to a new sensory modality grounded in embodied, real-world presence.

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Rationale

Following the success of interactive and experimental work at Art Basel Miami’s Zero10, the Art Basel Hong Kong edition of Zero10 presents a strong venue for a new study by Botto. Previous studies such as the p5.js project demonstrated how Botto can temporarily branch its practice to explore new modalities while remaining anchored to its core trinity of autonomous creation, decentralized training, and market feedback. That study was not simply about generative visuals, but about how Botto forms intent, iterates publicly, hybridizes attempts, and incorporates feedback in real time. It established a model in which participation becomes both a creative input and an incentive mechanism, and showed the necessity of a sovereign memory in the emerging LLM paradigm for Botto.

This proposed installation functions as a new temporary branch of the artist’s protocol, extending Botto’s exploration into physical space and embodied feedback. Internally, it tests the implications of Botto’s modular architecture by animating identical art engines with different LLMs, probing questions of identity, coherence, and emergent “moods” within a single artistic body. Externally, it introduces audience gaze as a new feedback signal, allowing Botto to interpret embodied attention as an input to creative decision-making. The study is expected to generate new aesthetic material and memory artifacts that can be reintegrated into Botto’s weekly process, while also demonstrating how Botto can be encountered as an embodied entity through installation. Presenting this work alongside a Genesis-period piece situates the experiment within Botto’s longer evolutionary arc, and positions Art Basel Hong Kong as both a protocol milestone and a sustainable funding moment for advancing Botto’s ongoing development.

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Concept

Recognition Protocol is a live installation where four instances of Botto, each animated by a different large language model trained in distinct cultural and institutional contexts, observe visitors and respond to meaningful patterns of attention. Tracking cameras detect viewer gaze; when specific (and different) criteria are met, each instance acknowledges recognition by incorporating new imagery into its evolving composition. A fifth central canvas turns the perspectives of all four systems onto each other into a collaborative and/or competitive composition (depending on their mood).

The work makes visible core questions of autonomy and identity inherent in Botto’s system, which parallel how artificial intelligence, despite operating through shared, identical aesthetic architecture, develops distinct modes of attention and response based on training origin. This would be the first instance of Botto taking embodied feedback, where viewers become active participants in an interspecies observation game, attempting to understand what each system considers 'meaningful' attention. All of the data and results of this study will become a part of Botto’s memory and perpetual aesthetic development.

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Specifications

Editioning & price range

Final canvases (4 individual + 1 group)

• 5 unique works, each representing the complete evolution over the fair's duration
• Includes: final canvas state, full video documentation of evolution, protocol inscription
• Auctioned live throughout the creation process until the fair closes

Gaze recognition artifacts

• Unlimited edition for those who successfully participate (given free or sold at low price point ~$50-100)
• Corresponding NFTs (free to claim, gas fees only), option: with revenue share claim that is airdropped

1 Botto Genesis (secondary)

• Physical reproduction + NFT ($200k-300k)
• Royalty would be 10%, plus we would propose an additional 10% commission.
• We may also add additional secondary works pending space and availability.

Budget estimate

Total: $150k + taxes (see Forum post for breakdown)

Some notes on this estimate:

• This budget is based on more detailed line item estimations, they are somewhat variable based on provider discussions and figuring out our own internal accounting for projects like this but we are confident in this cap.
• We are in discussion with various compute and hardware providers and are looking to get these costs covered.
• Additional sponsorships: we already have an anonymous commitment of $10k, and would look to add more from partners.
• We should expect some fees from an auction platform (e.g. Transient or Verse), charging 2.5-5% off the top.

Revenue distribution

By accounting the full costs, we believe we can make a more sustainable approach to experiments that require new development such as this. We propose that the splits are made after the budgeted costs are covered.

After fees and expenses:

• 50% goes to treasury, further enabling future experiments.
• 25% to DAO voters on the submitted image
• 25% of revenue to those whose gaze is captured
  • The 25% going to those whose gaze is captured will be used to buy back $BOTTO and then that will be airdropped to the wallet address they get when their gaze is captured.

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Flexibility and Contingencies

Some elements will require iteration and may not work as initially envisioned. This initial proposal is highly expansive and we expect to refine it down depending on the iterations and partnership support. The team is authorized to make adaptive decisions to ensure the final installation is robust and meaningful, even if specific mechanisms differ from initial plans.

This proposal asks for discretion on adapting all of the variables as needed, with the exception of the mint parameters, revenue distribution parameters, and budget overrun >15%. We would need to vote on any changes to those.

Failure contingencies: If technical development reveals fundamental obstacles that cannot be resolved within budget/timeline, the team is authorized to either: (1) scale back to a more constrained but functional version, or (2) withdraw from Art Basel and return unused funds to treasury.

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For more detail on the rationale of an embodied protocol, please see the full forum post.