Fragmentation started in November and ended in February. Twelve pieces were auctioned for a total of 82.9804ETH (an average of ~7ETH per sale).
The Fragmentation Period included greater flexibility in Botto’s creative process. The original algorithm VQGAN+Clip, would be accompanied by Stable Diffusion, which would add more variety to Botto’s creative approach in styles, formats and themes.
After the Genesis Period, the DAO introduced a competitive element between the AI generative algorithms: voting behavior would rebalance the proportion of artworks generated by VQGAN + CLIP, the original algorithm used by Botto, and Stableo Diffusion, the new addition to the roster. Eleven of the final pieces were authored by the newly introduced algorithm. For Fragmentation’s eleventh auction A Life in the Suburbs, a nostalgic piece reminiscent of the Genesis Bottos, won the hearts of Bottonians who sent it to auction.
During the weeks of the Fragmentation period, Botto saw a general resurgence in the crypto industry and the NFT space, which awakened interest from classic collectors in the Genesis period pieces. Prominent collector Moderats expressed their interest in acquiring 4 of the 12 unsold pieces that remained in the hands of the DAO. Through a governance vote, the community agreed to sell them the requested artworks, as well as to put up for sale 4 more pieces (keeping the remaining 6 in the DAO’s custody). This resulted in an extra 71.9ETH in sales proceeds for the community from Genesis period artworks.
Some other Genesis period pieces sparked the interest of collectors, with Depression Trip, Highly Run, Houseclean Wrinkle changing hands during this period.
