Robot dogs with faces of Musk, Kim Jong Un stun visitors at Art Basel Miami

A provocative installation featuring robot dogs with the faces of tech billionaires and political leaders sparked intense public interest at this year’s Art Basel Miami, held from 5 to 7 December.

The work, titled Regular Animals, was created by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known globally as Beeple. The robotic quadrupeds bear the faces of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

According to Le Figaro, each robot is equipped with cameras that photograph everything around them and then “interpret” the images in a style associated with the character whose face they wear. The dogs move along a transparent circular track and periodically stop to produce printed images from a small built-in printer — a cheeky artistic touch described as “artistic excrement.”

Beeple's installation serves as a commentary on the growing influence of algorithms controlled by major tech corporations, and how they shape public perception and understanding of the world.

Visitors described the robots as both humorous and unsettling. “Knowing who they represent is one thing, but seeing them with tiny legs and robotic bodies is something else entirely,” one attendee said.

By Vugar Khalilov