At the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the end of April coincides with the arrival of a project that sparked much debate among the public and experts during the past edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. It is the Regular Animals installation by American artist Beeple, born Mike Winkelmann, which will be exhibited for the first time in Germany from April 29 to May 10, during Gallery Weekend Berlin.
The work marks a new phase in the artistic practice of Beeple, who is now interested in expanding his critical reflection on algorithmic control technologies through the creation of hybrid spaces in the real world. In an enclosure that circumscribes an environment somewhere between technological device and performative scene, anthropomorphic autonomous robots move freely, each equipped with a hyper-realistic platinum-cured silicone face modeled after some prominent personalities in the cultural and technological worlds such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Beeple himself.
In an attempt to reflect the mechanisms by which technology now mediates and shapes collective perception, each robot records its surroundings through a built-in camera, and reprocesses the collected images through artificial intelligence systems calibrated to the artistic or ideological "style" associated with each character. The result is a print that is "ejected" from the back of the animal for free distribution to visitors, completing that cycle of observation, processing and restitution enacted by contemporary power structures.
Next to the installation, the museum will also exhibit Andy Warhol Robot by Nam June Paik, a key figure in video art. The comparison is not just formal: both works use the figure of Warhol as a junction between art, reproducibility, and media culture. If Paik assembled televisions and magnetic tapes into an anthropomorphic sculpture, Beeple updates that model in the context of networks and artificial intelligence, keeping open a line of continuity between the two eras by means of technology and mass media.
The installation, curated by Lisa Botti, will be set up in the foyer of the museum and will include a public meeting with the artist together with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, among the figures who have most contributed to introducing blockchain-related practices into the institutional context and with whom Beeple has been holding a close discussion on digital culture and its role in contemporary processes of artistic creation for years.
Exhibition: Regular Animals Curated by: Lisa Botti Where: Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany Dates: April 29, 2026 to May 10, 2026
Opening image: Beeple, Regular Animals. © Beeple Studios