Digital artist Mike Winkelmann, professionally known as Beeple, launched an eccentric new installation at Art Basel Miami Beach this week, featuring a pack of $100,000 robotic dogs designed to satirize tech moguls and art icons alike.
The Robotic Menagerie of “Regular Animals”
The project, titled “Regular Animals,” showcases a group of robotic dogs roaming within a plexiglass enclosure. These high-tech machines are outfitted with hyper-realistic, uncanny heads modeled after prominent figures including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, alongside historical art giants Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.
How the AI-Driven Installation Works
The spectacle functions through a unique automated process: the robot dogs navigate their pen while capturing images via chest-mounted cameras. These visuals are processed by an AI system before being physically printed and, as reported by the WSJ, essentially “pooped out” by the machines. Of these outputs, 256 prints include QR codes linked to a free NFT, which collectors receive in bags branded as “Excrement Sample.”
Beeple’s Self-Portrait and Market Performance
In a move the Charleston-based artist described as “ballsy,” Beeple included a robotic dog featuring his own likeness among the group. To the artist’s own surprise, his self-portrait piece was the first to be purchased at the exhibition.
A Return to the Art World Spotlight
This installation serves as a high-profile return to the center of the art world for Winkelmann. Four years ago, he gained global notoriety when a digital collage of his work sold for $69 million at Christie’s, a milestone that ignited the subsequent NFT boom before the market experienced a significant decline.
