Beeple’s Robot Dogs with Billionaire Heads at Art Basel
Digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, set up a pen of robot dogs at Art Basel Miami Beach. Each has a hyper-realistic silicone head modeled after tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, or artists like Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. Two even look like Beeple himself. The installation, called “Regular Animals,” sits in the fair’s new Zero10 digital art section, per The Art Newspaper.
How the Robots Work
These quadruped robots roam inside a plexiglass enclosure. Chest cameras snap photos of their surroundings. AI then turns those into images styled after the head they’re wearing. For example, Warhol-like prints from the Warhol dog or Picasso versions from Picasso’s. Every so often, they tip back, flash “poop mode” on a screen, and eject the prints from their rears. Some prints come in bags marked “Excrement Sample” with QR codes for free NFTs, per Decrypt. As CNN reports, about 256 of those NFT-linked prints exist.
Beeple explained the tech billionaires’ role this way: they control algorithms that shape how people see news and the world. The robots show that influence through their unique image styles. The recording function stops after three years, but the robots keep basic movement.
Sales and Reactions
Each robot sold for $100,000. Beeple’s self-portrait version went first, which surprised him. By the end of the first VIP day or even the first hour, per reports, all were sold. Crowds gathered, filming the dogs and gasping when they “pooped.” One visitor called the skin jiggle “robot meets human, such a trip,” as ARTnews described. Real dogs barked at them once. Reactions split between “disgusting,” “disturbing,” and “brilliant.”
TechCrunch notes the pack drew viral attention through Sunday. Mashable found them nightmare fuel, with the billionaire faces on pooping robots too unnerving for errands.
Beeple’s Background
Winkelmann runs a studio in Charleston, South Carolina, focused on experimental digital art. He’s shown at places like The Shed in New York and LACMA. In 2021, his 5,000-image NFT collage sold for $69.3 million at Christie’s, making him one of the top living artists then. He predicted the NFT bust early, blaming low-quality work. Now digital art grows again, per Art Basel’s report, and NFTs tie into this project fittingly.
Beeple sees more interactive robot art ahead as tech advances. These dogs critique AI and elite influence while pulling crowds at one of the richest art fairs.