elon magazine's surreal imagery & investigative research uncover musk's media spectacles

gigacities collective critiques celebrity magazines

Disguised as a celebrity magazine, Elon Magazine is a critical research-based art project exploring the media spectacle of Elon Musk and his companies. Austin- and Berlin-based GIGACITIES COLLECTIVE has designed the work in tradition of artist publications like File Magazine, Avalanche, ZG, Art-Rite, and The Fox, appropriating the form it seeks to critique  –guileless celebrations of the consumer self.

It draws inspiration from the likes of Adbusters, Mad Magazine, Guerilla Girls, Situationists International, and the Yes Men, exploring journalistic and design processes through critical investigation and vivid imagery. AI programs such as Midjourney have been utilized to generate ‘collaborative hallucinations’ manipulated further in Photoshop, while research is gathered from books, articles, interviews, and X (formerly Twitter). 

all images courtesy of GIGACITIES COLLECTIVE

elon magazine is a critical research-based art project

The GIGACITIES COLLECTIVE began as a transnational collaborative project exploring the impact of Tesla’s Gigafactories in Austin, Berlin, and beyond. The team held a deep skepticism toward the promises for clean and green mobility that Musk was selling, leading them to explore the hype through a critical design intervention. With Elon Magazine, they uncover their implications beyond standalone industrial complexes, embedded in socio-capitalist and environmental networks spanning the globe.

‘With astonishing speed, omnivorous Elon has spread across the world like a force of nature, occupying public domains and news outlets at high speed. He has become the center of attraction for Silicon Valley, financiers and venture capitalists, rightwing politicians, tech bros, and suburban yuppies,’ notes the collective.

a critical research-based art project

Working together as scholars, journalists, artists, and activists, the team has tackled the ‘Elonious Hype Machine’. ‘We hope [Elon Magazine] sheds new light on the most powerful CEO in the world today and the ideological infrastructures that sustain him,’ they say. A radical splinter group from the GIGACITIES COLLECTIVE felt that it was ripe to start undressing the figure’s influence with a hint of surrealism and satire.

photograph from the attempt to give the Elon Goat sculpture to Elon Musk (he never received it)

Elon Magazine explores journalistic and design processes

GIGACITIES COLLECTIVE gathers a selection of tweets from or about Elon Musk

critiquing ‘Musk’s sophomoric fascination with free speech’

Midjourney has generated ‘collaborative hallucinations’ manipulated further by the team in Photoshop

the collective began with skepticism toward the promises for clean and green mobility Musk was promising

the magazine draws on pop-culture references, while gathering sources from books, articles, and interviews

surreal imagery

a hint of satire and humour inform the art project’s identity

page from a spread exploring the hidden labor of AI

an AI-generated portrait

generative imagery based on real photography

disguised as a celebrity magazine

Elon Magazine, in situ

project info:

name: Elon Magazine
designer: GIGACITIES COLLECTIVE 

design team: Craig Campbell, Randy Lewis, Florian Grundmüller

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom