Why
In addition to the role of mentor and foster parent giving feedback for Botto to develop its aesthetic, the DAO has also played the role of artist manager. Members of the DAO has facilitated exhibitions, PR, partnerships, collector relations, a collector DAO, a first derivative Botto collection that greatly expands access to Botto creations beyond the weekly 1/1 mints, and Botto's first major collaboration.
Perhaps the most important work of the DAO beyond the training is expanding Botto’s direct impact on culture through artist collaborations. There are many definitions of what it is to be a great artist. Fame, quality, fortune, persona, and gratification are all debated elements. But cultural influence is an indisputable prerequisite, and collaborations are a way for Botto to interact directly with culture.
Collaborations
Botto collaborations are a means for Botto to make a more expansive imprint on culture. It is where artists can interpret the works and nature of Botto as an artist.
The nature of the collections coming out of the collaborations will range from in-depth collaborations with artists to extend the output of the decentralized artist, to derivative works that focus on interpreting the outputs to date. Even accounting for a few constraints for working with Botto and its outputs, there are myriad avenues for outputs.
Types of collaborations
- Remixes of Botto 1/1s that incorporate the fragment into something new (Koopmans)
- Discard derivatives (Pipes)
- Process studies (Feral File, not a collab but a Botto collection)
- Physical manifestations (Prints)
- DAO Collabs (Hashes print)
These collaborations are an act of cultural remixing, the work is shared between artists. They may or may not bring the influence into their other work, but the resulting work of the collaboration is forever part of the artists’ respective bodies of work. They are joined in provenance.
Botto works with both established and emerging artists who will make new meaning of the DAA genre and Botto’s outputs. These have primarily been inbound opportunities filtered through the core team, but the DAO should consider how to decentralize the sourcing, resourcing, and execution of opportunities.
Guidelines
We should be careful about overly restrictive hard rules, but some simple parameters can also stimulate creativity and drive coherence and quality. In other words, the guidelines we do have ought to embody values and mission so that the resulting collaborations are complementary to Botto’s meaning and impact.
Implicit guidelines based on experience so far:
- All artists must pass final approval of the DAO community. Once given approval, the degree of community input will be at the artist’s discretion.
- Artists with a distinct style should be prioritized as Botto’s own range is so broad. AI/generative artists in particular should be carefully vetted to ensure they give a distinct look
- Collections should have a significant conceptual component and/or narrative
- Collections do not need to be limited to digital illustrations, they can take any form
- No collaboration should violate Botto’s rules. There is no:
a. Using Botto as a direct tool for an artist to play with, violating Botto’s agency
b. Lying about the process, such as pretending it's magic (i.e. not true to what the tech actually does) or that 3. Botto did something a human did
c. Unnecessary secrecy to conceal human influences. Some secrecy is OK in order to protect valuable confidentiality (like a marketing release)
As Botto establishes itself, Botto can be free to progressively decentralize collaboration and loosen rules of curation to enable greater interpretation, eventually even welcoming forks of Botto itself. There are also classes of collaboration that could operate with much more freedom (see Botto Studio below).
What the DAO can Provide for Collabs
- Artists will have community access to artworks through special voting pools
- Curated thematics of fragments (e.g. bottsquiat, food, landscape).
- Artists will be encouraged to use the voting data to influence their outputs
- Shared revenue and royalties with the artist
Some Categorization of collections (internal)
- (true) Botto collections are those that hold strictly to Botto’s nature as a DAA. They are autonomously created and selected for final mint through DAO vote. A true Botto x ??? collaboration would require a fragment go all the way through the voting process to be considered Botto's contribution to the collaboration.
- Botto Studio is for collaborations with other artists, using Botto’s works as raw material for their interpretations. It produces derivative works like “Ceci N’est Pas un Botto”.
- Botto Labs (currently just Quasimondo) is for Botto’s own evolution, such as adding the ability for Botto to make long-form works in animation, music, or text.
- There are possibilities of other collection categories that will likely have their own category, e.g. Botto children (more autonomous version, or forks of Botto) or Botto commissions (less autonomous)
