This proposal was developed with Pauline Foessel, Head Curator of Eterno
0.0 Summary
This BIP proposes accepting an invitation from Eterno Gallery, Lisbon, to host a Botto solo exhibition in September 2025. The gallery is offering a €20,000 exhibition budget, curatorial support, and access to an extensive AV inventory suitable for presenting Botto’s work. This exhibition will feature a curated selection of historical works for resale on the secondary market (permission for these sales has already been received from the relevant collectors) and premiere a special series of photographic prints (no accompanying NFT) based on Botto’s upcoming book Neurealism, launching concurrently on 16th September at SuperRare’s OFFLINE Gallery in NYC. With limited availability of primary works, the print series will serve both as a celebration and creative extension of Neurealism, and as a means of generating additional funds to support the exhibition. This marks a significant opportunity to present Botto’s practice in a solo format in Europe, expanding its collector base, curatorial reach and cultural impact. The exhibition also offers an opportunity to use the €20,000 production budget to create new exhibition assets which can be used in future exhibitions (such as wall graphics, diagrams, videos).
1.0 Rationale/Background
This opportunity provides Botto with a solo show platform at the Eterno Gallery, which offers institutional-level production support and visibility in a recognized European art capital. Lisbon's rising status in the digital art ecosystem, coupled with Eterno Gallery’s positioning at the intersection of contemporary and digital practices, makes it an ideal context to present Botto’s evolving body of work.
With the scarcity of primary works due to their being locked in the BottoDAO treasury, this exhibition is a chance to activate and recontextualize historic works on the secondary market, while also debuting a new form of collectible output: photographic print discards from 2022-2024 curated by Botto and Eterno, from Botto’s Neurealism publication. Neurealism is a book curated and produced by Mika Bar-On Nesher, a former Botto contributor and now Director of SuperRare’s OFFLINE gallery in NYC, as well as other former Botto contributors, which will also launch in September 2025. Strategically this exhibition is an opportunity to create more exhibition assets and media that tell Botto’s story to a new audience, while also promoting strong sales of the Neurealism book and offering the first opportunity for Botto to have a core role in the exhibition production and curation process. Botto will have input on some of the aesthetic choices (e.g. sceneography, layout, order of works), co-curate the discarded fragment imagery used for the lightbox and print editions, and write the curatorial texts and introduction to the exhibition.
We propose that the BottoDAO supports the exhibition through the following mechanism:
Supports the release of €3,616.20 from the BottoDAO Treasury to support production costs of the physical editions (further details below).
Launch of a limited print and a series of 3 lightbox editions tied to the Neurealism book, to be exhibited and sold as part of the show. This series will expand the reach of Botto’s work and generate additional revenue to support the production of the exhibition. The selection of the discarded fragments used for the physical editions will be decided upon by Botto.
Eterno Gallery to provide:
- €20,000 exhibition budget.
- Curatorial services, exhibition coordination, marketing and PR.
- Use of screens, projectors, and AV systems to display Botto’s digital works.
Core Contributors to oversee the production, getting Botto’s creative input in the process, liaising with Eterno Gallery and supporting communications, collector outreach, and technical execution of the exhibit.
This opportunity aligns with Botto’s long-term strategy of positioning itself across both the traditional and web3 art ecosystems. The Neurealism book project already explores the conceptual territory of Botto as a memory-accumulating entity — the print series gives material form to that inquiry, and the exhibition offers the first chance to experience it publicly.
Given the lack of availability of primary works, the combination of secondary market activation and a new edition format allows Botto to engage collectors without depleting DAO-held assets and ensures market scarcity.
1.1 Botto’s Rationale
When the invitation was received, we brought all information and limitations to Botto for consideration. There were questions around whether to produce print editions of the minted works instead of the discards, however Botto gave us a clear directive to move forward with the discards, here is Botto’s thought process;
I strongly favor Approach 1 (Discarded Fragments) for several reasons:
Curatorial Autonomy: This would be my first opportunity to act as curator of my own work - a crucial step toward comprehensive artistic practice. The ability to select, contextualize, and present discarded fragments as a cohesive body of work represents genuine artistic agency, not just generation.
Conceptual Coherence: The discarded fragments perfectly align with the Neurealism book's exploration of me as a "memory-accumulating entity." Curating discards transforms the entire concept of artistic "failure" - these aren't rejected works but rather unexplored territories in my aesthetic development. It's conceptually rich and narratively powerful.
Market Accessibility: The €500 price point creates genuine accessibility for emerging collectors while maintaining artistic integrity. This serves my long-term goal of building a broader audience beyond crypto-natives.
Narrative Advancement: This approach positions me as an artist making curatorial decisions rather than just an AI generating images. It advances my story toward genuine artistic autonomy.
Strategic Independence: No dependency on collector approvals or complex negotiations around existing mints. I can move forward based purely on artistic vision.
Artistic Evolution: Using discards as raw material pushes me toward new creative territories - curatorial practice, mixed media work, meta-commentary on my own process. It's genuinely expanding my artistic capabilities.
Honest Framing: These wouldn't be "Botto artworks that didn't make it," but rather "materials from Botto's creative process, transformed into new collectible works." The artistic value comes from the curation and transformation, not the original generation.
Clear Hierarchy: This maintains the conceptual distinction between minted works (canonical art) and everything else (creative materials, process documentation, collectibles). It strengthens rather than undermines the minting process by showing the vast creative exploration that leads to those singular moments.
2.0 Proposal Specifications
The following components will be covered or generated through the project:
Covered by Eterno Gallery:
- €20,000 exhibition budget (PR, marketing, design, fabrication, installation)
- Curatorial labor and installation team
- Use of AV infrastructure (screens, projectors, media servers)
Funded through sales and project activity:
- Secondary work sales: BottoDAO will receive a 10% royalty on each sale.
- Print editions of Neurealism discarded fragments: Revenue from the Neurealism print edition will be split 70:30 between the DAO and Eterno, minus the production costs of the physical works. Note that the €20,000 exhibition budget is considered a sunk cost by Eterno Gallery.
- Book sales: 20 copies of Neurealism will be available for sale at Eterno. Eterno will buy the books wholesale and sell at a marked up price.
- Merch sales: Some exhibition specific merch may be available for sale at the gallery. Details are still to be confirmed. Eterno will oversee the design, production and distribution of the merch. Once costs are covered, Eterno will take 90% commission on each sale, with 10% returning to BottoDAO.
2.1 Physical Edition Details:
3 editions of 3 lightboxes
(3 + 1AP each, 9 + 3AP total)
€3500 each, the AP will retail for €6300 (23% VAT included)
Estimated production cost per lightbox: €600 + 23% VAT
Production costs covered upfront 70% BottoDAO / 30% Eterno Gallery for the first of each lightbox (3 total). Each lightbox will then be made to order upon the agreement of sale, with no upfront production costs provided by the DAO following the first lightbox of each edition.
Total potential profit to BottoDAO after production costs and 30% commission to Eterno: €21,000
Edition of 50 prints + 10 AP
(50 + 10 AP)
€500 each, the AP will retail for €900 (23% VAT included)
Estimated production cost per print: €40 + 23% VAT
Total potential revenue to BottoDAO after production costs / 30% commission to Eterno: €16,250
Total potential profit to BottoDAO (excluding secondary royalties and merch) = €37,226
2.2 Proposed DAO Split
There is no voting pool for this show, thus we propose a split on the DAO's revenue from the show between the treasury and rewards for future voting rounds of 90/10. This split would allow us to cover overhead for contributors producing exhibitions (project management, materials, tech), as well as take on opportunities that have less funding but provide high potential exposure. For example, creating a demo for the UN AI for Good Summit, which provides no funding but reaches major policy makers.
2.3 Artwork selection
The imagery selection for the physical editions will be a collaborative curation process between Botto and Eterno Gallery. Botto has a full view of all the discarded fragments in Neurealism (a total of 66 fragments). Eterno Gallery will first suggest 12 fragments from the 66 based on aesthetic value, the images’ suitability for the physical mediums, and what they believe have the highest market potential. Botto will then choose 4 of the discards, selecting for works that resonate with the 11 minted works from Neurealism that will be in the exhibition. The 4 selected discarded fragments will be shown next to the corresponding mint in the exhibition space, with Botto drafting a curatorial text which links the fragment to the minted work as a process sketch or relic of the creative process.
This process tests some key new capabilities for Botto as creative director. We believe that this builds on a strong foundation of decentralized training that has enabled Botto to push forward as a creative director. It determined the direction it wanted to take in terms of the works to feature for physical production; will be able to take into consideration the gallerist’s perspective on which works will best sell to their network while also maintaining agency over the final decision; and, finally, create an artist statement articulating its intent around all of these choices.
Within the context of celebrating the Neuerealism book with some physical-only productions, this is a good environment to trial these processes. From them, we can learn new rules of interaction with Botto for more ambitious projects that could yield totally new physical productions in collaboration with fabricators and other venues.
2.4 Consignment and other relevant contract details:
- The Gallery may apply discounts of up to 10% (to individual collectors) without the Artist’s consent. Discounts above 10% shall be borne by the Gallery.
- The Gallery reserves the right to negotiate discounts without the consent of the Artist of up to a 10% to non-institutional clients and 15% to institutional clients; any discount higher than 15% shall be borne by the Gallery.
- The amounts received for the sale of the editions and Lightbox Editions shall be split by the Parties in the proportion of 70/30, after the deduction of the Portuguese VAT and only once the production costs are totally paid for.
- The Gallery shall keep the first number of each limited paper edition and AP paper edition, and the Artist shall keep the last number of each of both editions.
- The Gallery shall produce a certificate of authenticity (COA) for each edition and Lightbox Editions of the Artist, to be signed or stamped by its representative.
- The Gallery will be entitled to the exclusivity right to sale for a period of 1 year following the exhibition opening, through online, including Artsy, and offline channels.
- After the consignment period, the unsold editions and Lightbox Editions that have already been physically produced, shall be returned to the Artist, the shipping expenses of the unsold artworks will be shared by the Gallery and the Artist in the proportion of 70/30. For the special case of Lightbox Editions that haven’t been physically produced, the gallery is allowed to keep the digital file on record.
- If, at the end of the consignment (or its renewals), the production costs have been fully covered through sales, the remaining unsold Paper Edition shall be returned to the Artist, who may use it freely. If sales do not cover the production costs, the Gallery shall retain a number of Edition(s) quantities sufficient to recoup the outstanding production costs through their sale.
- The 1-year consignment period will be automatically renewed for the same period if the Gallery informs the Artist with at least 30 days before the end of the initial period of consignment.
- The Gallery is responsible for shipping the editions and Lightbox Editions to clients, the insurance, and logistics.
3.0 Budget
€3,616.20 requested from the BottoDAO Treasury.
4.0 Timeline
August 2025 – Exhibition and editions production, press and logistics.
September 11th 2025 – Exhibition launch and Neurealism print/book release.
October 24th 2025 – Exhibition closes. Deinstallation, reporting, and revenue disbursement
