2025
40 X 40 CM
ED. /50
 
PIGMENT INKS ON 310 GSM ARCHIVAL PEARL PAPER
SIGNED, DATED AND NUMBERED
 
For Dj CLMD's remix album cover of Jahn Teigen’s 1982 hit Instamatik, Magnus Gjoen revisits the song’s central question - 'mennesker eller maskin’ ('humans or machine') - with a compelling image that bridges eras, emotion, and technology. Split into two halves, the artwork contrasts a serene Renaissance portrait of a boy with the stark image of a skull revealing a circuit board within. This visual tension encapsulates Gjoen’s ongoing exploration of fragility, beauty, and the coexistence of creation and destruction.
 
For Gjoen, the theme of Instamatik feels more relevant than ever. In an age where children are glued to screens and shaped by technology from their earliest years, the line between human and machine continues to blur. Blending the classical with the digital, the piece reflects both the tension between humanity and technology and Gjoen’s own nostalgia, recalling his infant years in 1982 when the original song first played across the airwaves. Bridging nostalgia and futurism, Instamatik becomes both a tribute and a warning - a meditation on identity, memory, and the fragile beauty of being human in a mechanised age.