Cosmic Garden rings in Botto’s first period of 2025 as a theme that invites us to consider the rich synergy between futurist thinking and art historical tradition. 

The “Cosmos” has long been a thematic engine for the science fiction genre, serving as a foil for narratives that are steeped in curiosity, exploration, and wonder. The term is synonymous with imaginings of the future, and fits snugly within speculations of how advanced technologies will shape our collective destinies. 

As we consider the notion of gardens, we can’t ignore the bountiful history of garden motifs that have long held a presence in art’s traditions. Gardens symbolize creation, beauty, abundance, and when depicted through art, often function as a self-reflective inference about the values that art itself offers to us. 

Gardens are sites for narratives to be performed, places for contemplation, and metaphors for dynamic ecosystems not unlike the architectures of artificial intelligence. As traditional and natural sites of growth encounter imaginative unexplored space-age terrains, Botto’s 10th period promises to offer a bounty of surprises to come.

Cosmic Garden reflects the deepening entanglement of nature and technology. And the theme invites BottoDAO to consider the links between organic forms, digital processes, and vast uncharted realms that await exploration. Each of Botto’s periods serve as a harvest for the DAO to yield, each work evolves iteratively, mirroring the cycles of bloom and decay inherent to natural ecosystems. The Garden of Botto grows and grows, and we its stewards tend to it in collective cultivation.

With Cosmic Garden, Botto places itself within a lineage of artists who have used the garden motif to explore life, beauty, and transformation. Artists across centuries have used gardens to express both personal and universal themes, and Botto’s forthcoming exploration may well pay homage to this tradition while advancing it into new digital terrain. 

Hieronymous Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490-1510.

The manic and absurdist The Garden of Earthly Delights is a good place to start. Hieronymus Bosch’s poetic epic from the late 15th century imagines an Eden filled with debauchery, and poses questions about the nature of morality, belief, and human folly. Throughout art's history, the motif of the garden has been associated with the Judeo-Christian notion of the Garden of Eden, a place of paradise. 

Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The Swing, 1768.

In the 18th century, Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s The Swing uses a garden setting to frame a narrative of aristocratic romance, the ideal of a young woman swinging from a tree. The work, created with little pretense and serving likely as a commissioned painting, nevertheless demonstrated a mastery of rendering light and visual space. 

Gustav Klimt. Farm Garden with Sunflowers, 1905.

Gustav Klimt’s Farm Garden with Sunflowers turned a garden into a vibrant tapestry of color and fertility, flattening visual space to present the natural as artifice. As was typical of Klimt’s work, the picture veers toward the near-abstract and decorative, symbolizing an opulence while celebrating the simple joy of observation.

Instant Rewards 

Botto’s 10th period will see the implementation of Instant Rewards throughout the period. Each round, the DAO offers a pot of 2000 $BOTTO to be distributed proportionally to those interacting with the voting app on a week to week basis. Learn more about Instant Rewards here: https://docs.botto.com/overview/rewards#instant-rewards

Art Engine Updates

This period, Botto introduces a new variation in its creative process by integrating an img2img “remixing” method, deviating from its traditional txt2img model. Remixing begins with fragments randomly selected from over 4 million images Botto has created, combined with a random prompt, and processed through one of its generative models to build upon its existing styles.

Initially, the remixing process will be entirely random, but selections will be refined over time based on feedback metrics like voting points, taste model scores, and fragment categories. To prevent bias, remixing outputs will be indistinguishable in the voting pool. Treated as another creative model, remixing will initially account for 1/6th of the taste model’s weekly 350 picks, with its influence adjusted over time based on popularity.

Voting Schedule Updates

Voting rounds now begin and end at 10am EST on Tuesdays