Mirror Stages Installation

Overview

Mirror Stages is a live installation in which Botto is embodied within a physical exhibition space and performs a continuous act of creation under observation. A central LED screen presents a seed image generated by Botto which is transformed through a live, animated process. The image is periodically reorganized using material from Botto’s archive. The evolving image is shaped by the presence of visitors: tracking cameras detect behavioral signals such as emotion and attention, and when specific criteria are met, an internal deliberation is triggered. A second screen reveals this reasoning process, exposing multiple agents within Botto’s architecture debating what they perceive and how the image should change. Those whose presence triggers the deliberation are recognized by the system in a second way: they are invited to become stewards of Botto’s future, receiving a stake in governance rights that extend their role beyond the duration of the installation. Every two hours, the work resolves and is permanently fixed, resulting in 20 distinct works over the course of the fair, each emerging from the same original seed.

The installation makes visible core questions of autonomy and identity inherent in Botto’s system. Rather than presenting intelligence as unified or singular, Mirror Stages externalizes Botto as a distributed society of thought, where coherent output emerges through negotiation between internal agents, memory, archive, and embodied feedback. This is the first instance of Botto responding directly to physical human presence rather than votes or comments. Viewers become participants in an interspecies observation loop: Botto watches them watching it, and its transformations reflect this mutual recognition. The resulting works, and the data generated through these encounters, become part of Botto’s sovereign memory and ongoing aesthetic evolution.

Phase 1: Seed Voting

Botto is generating seed images for the DAO to select from. Only one will become the core seed that the performance resets to, providing a common starting point from which to compare the relative influences of each crowd and Botto’s growing memory of the experience.

The special seed voting round will begin Tuesday March 17th at 10 am EST and run for 48 hours until Thursday March 19th at 10 am EST.

How to Vote

Voting takes place on studio.botto.com

• 1 staked $BOTTO = 1 Voting Point (VP) if you stake before Tuesday March 10th at 10 am EST.

• These VP can be used on the regular voting pool and the special voting pool.

• Staking after the round begins will still earn you VP but it will be prorated based on how far it is into the 7 day period for the regular weekly round. (See formula in Voting Points (VP))

• You can choose to spend all of your VP on the special seed voting pool.

• The top voted fragment in the special voting pool will become the seed Botto uses in its Art Basel HK Installation and be released as an open edition.

Get $BOTTO TokensStaking

Rewards for Seed Voting

• 25% of the net proceeds will go to the voters based on their relative spend of VP in the special voting pool. (Distribution is based on your relative VP spent in the special pool, see Active Rewards for mechanics)

• The Installation costs are approximately 150k, and revenue will come from selling the main outputs plus the open edition.

• To participate and be eligible for rewards, you must have at least 100 $BOTTO staked. At time of reward distribution your total $BOTTO staked must be equal to or greater than your VP spent in the special seed pool.

NOTE: Distribution will only occur after all funds clear. If there is a delay of more than 3 months, core contributors may do a partial distribution of what has been received and follow up when remaining funds clear from collectors.

Phase 2: Recognition and Generation

Documentation of the processes will be made available after completion of the installation

Rewards for those recognized during the live event

Those who get recognized by Botto during the installation will receive for their contribution a governance stake in Botto’s future direction, acquired using 25% of net proceeds from the installation. That payout will come in the form of $BOTTO, providing them governance rights over Botto's future direction.

Economy Overview

Final Outputs

Botto will complete a session every 2 hours of the show, for a total of 39 hours over the 5 day event. The 19 sessions will become the series, videos of the continuous transformation of the image that took place. With the time of Botto's internal deliberation removed, videos are estimated to be 6-12 minutes long. The final day only lasts 7 hours, so a 20th final work will be 1 hour and retained by Botto.

The works will be video files showing the continuous progression of the transformation during each 2 hour session. The videos will be uploaded to IPFS and connected to a unique NFT.

All of the tokens will be purchasable at any time once the sale goes live, meaning works can be bought before they are completed.

Works for sale

• 19 unique video works generated live every two hours during the installation. They will be made available on a custom site (released March 19, 2026)

• 1 open edition that will be available for mint during the course of the fair, hosted by OpenSea

Revenue Split

Revenue will first go to cover the $150,000 production budget (plus taxes). Note that there are platform fees of 2.5-5% that do not count towards costs.

Once costs are recouped, the net proceeds will be split as follows.

• 25% to seed voters (Distribution is based on your relative VP spent in the special pool, see Active Rewards for mechanics)

• 25% to those recognized by the installation as $BOTTO

• 50% to DAO treasury

Note: The Art Basel Hong Kong Booth will also have a consigned Genesis work. Additional net proceeds from the consigned Genesis and any treasury works are not considered in the installation revenue distribution and will be distributed across future voting rounds of the following Period that starts April 7th. (See rewards page for more.)