Art Basel Miami delivered one of its most unsettling and talked-about spectacles this year as digital artist Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, unveiled 'Regular Animals', an immersive installation featuring hyper-realistic robot dogs fitted with silicone masks of figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and even Beeple himself.
According to reports, each animatronic creature, priced at around $100,000, roamed the exhibition floor snapping photos and dispensing satirical 'NFT excrement'. The work blends robotics, satire, and social commentary, prompting reactions ranging from disgust to awe as audiences questioned whether the bizarre installation was art, parody, or a warning about technology's growing influence.
'Bizarre, Grotesque' Life-like Robot Dogs With Personality
The animatronics meander across the floor where they squat, take photos, and 'poop media,' each stamped with 'Excrement Sample' and a warning label that says each print may cause er*ctions in 'degenerate art collectors.'
The 'robot dogs' mirror the exact style of their human faces - tech, cubism, pop art, or algorithms.
'They're constantly taking pictures and reinterpreting the world through the lens of these different characters,' Beeple explained to CNN. 'This one looks like an Andy Warhol, how he saw the world. The Picasso image reinterprets the world as Picasso saw it,' he added.
'We're increasingly seeing the world through the lens of how they would like us to see it, because they control these very powerful algorithms. They judge what we see in the world, and for many people, it's their primary source of news. They have unilateral control over how we see the world, in many ways,' Beeple said.
'It's How We See The World Now'
Fairgoers took home a total of 1,208 'poop prints', with 256 of them featuring a 'scan to claim' barcode, making them collectible digital assets.
According to Page Six, fairgoers passed by and said, 'It's so creepy!' and the expressions ranged from disgust to brilliance - grotesque, yet insightful.
Even online, many people took to Instagram to comment and ask whether the art piece was real or was generated by AI.
'The way you push digital language into physical space always hits. Excited to see where this series goes — feels like a whole new chapter,' Luka wrote.
But Beeple, in said interview, reminded ongoers, 'You're increasingly seeing the world through the eyes of AI and robotics,' he told us. 'I think that will happen more and more.'
Not included in the installations are actual dogs that went to the fair with their owners and started barking at the exhibit.
Beeple allowed them in the pen and said he was amused, 'The reaction's been pretty good, I'm not gonna lie. I think it's something where it's very hard for you to walk past and be like, 'okay, I've seen that.' You've not seen that.'
Interestingly, all robot dogs have been bought for private collections and have been allowed to 'go on tour,' during the first hour of the fair.
A Pinch of AI, NFTs, And Societal Comeback
The installation piece has a limited span of three years, and after this period, the sculptures will stop recording images and storing NFTs, but will retain their basic functions.
Beeple's reputation to showcase art and society is widely cemented in his branding.
His reputation in art blew up in 2021 for his NFT collage, 'Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,' which sold for $69.3 million (roughly £51.93 million).
'Regular Animals' expands his exploration of how society interacts with — and is manipulated by — digital systems. The installation's humour, absurdity, and unnerving realism make it one of the most discussed artworks from this year's Art Basel Miami, blurring the line between satire and warning.
