A pack of robot dogs fitted with hyper-realistic silicone heads of tech billionaires and cultural icons—including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol—is now on display at the New National Gallery in Berlin as part of the traveling interactive exhibit "Regular Animals." Created by American artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), the cyborg canines wander aimlessly and defecate AI-generated images in the style of the celebrity head they wear. The exhibit previously appeared in Miami and San Francisco.
The exhibit matters because it critiques how tech billionaires and their algorithms shape public perception and wield immense power without democratic oversight. Beeple argues that today's worldview is dictated by a handful of platform owners, contrasting with past eras when artists like Picasso and Warhol influenced cultural perspective. The work also engages with themes of digital art, NFTs, and the commodification of influence, as the robots will "die" in three years and be preserved on the blockchain.