Photos taken by a Chimpanzee sells for $76,000 at auction

A set of photos taken by a talented Russian chimpanzee, Mikki sold at an auction on Wednesday for 50,000 pounds ($76,680) – though the photos were askew and out of focus.  

Mikki, a performer with the Moscow Circus, was trained to take pictures in the 1990s by Russian conceptual artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid as part of a project to challenge concepts of artistic value.

Meanwhile, the buyer, Russian art collector Kira Flanzaich, said the photos were a fine example of conceptual art.

"Sometimes you think that animals can maybe photograph or do other things better than a human being," she said. "So we could see it in this particular piece, because Mikki took the photographs that are quite good of Red Square."

The sale also included images of Mikki taken by Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid.

Unfortunately Mikki was not around to enjoy the praise. The chimp died in 2007.

AP