Robot dogs with faces of billionaires steal the show at a US art fair

At Art Basel Miami Beach, digital artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) showcased an installation titled Regular Animals, featuring robotic dogs with hyper-realistic silicone faces of billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. These robots wandered within a fenced area, snapping photos of their surroundings and occasionally entering a humorous “poop mode,” where they ejected small printed artworks from their rear ends. Each print reflected an artistic style linked to the depicted figure and included QR codes connecting to NFTs. Beeple designed the piece as a critique of how modern perceptions are increasingly shaped by tech moguls, algorithms, and digital platforms rather than traditional artists, blending humor, discomfort, and social commentary. The installation pushed the boundaries of digital art by merging robotics, satire, and social critique into a performance-like environment. The robotic dogs’ deliberately awkward movements created an unsettling contrast with their familiar faces, while their photo-taking fed algorithms that generated the prints they expelled. This absurd “pooping” act symbolized the