Mexican artist UltraK offers an immersive show with augmented reality
Author, composer and performer Karina Marquez, aka UltraK, enhances her musical performance with avatars and 3D images that she creates with virtual and augmented reality. She will present her immersive show on April 6 at the Art Souterrain festival in Place Ville-Marie in Montreal. Photo: Courtesy UltraK
Known for her style that fuses her rock-pop roots with electronica, jazz, funk, dub and opera, Canadian-Mexican singer-songwriter Karina Marquez, aka Ultra K brings a new form of expression to the underground electronic music scene, integrating virtual and augmented reality technology into its creations and musical performances.
The Mexico-based artist adds a new dimension to the Latin, electronic and downtempo rhythms that emanate from his latest digital album Heart in a box, using avatars and 3D animations inspired by symbols, legends and archetypes of Mexican culture.
XR performance by singer, musician and digital artist UltraK. Video credit: Jeff Malo
Reinventing yourself through AR
“Reality augmented reality gives me the freedom to become unique and change my skin temporarily without being judged,” says Ms. Marquez, who developed a keen interest in augmented reality technologies thanks to a creation residency from the Canada Council for the Arts that she won in 2020.
Beyond offering an interactive experience through her live musical performance, she wants to immerse her audience in a variety of universes where “minorities do not exist” by making available on her Instagram AR account the QR codes of augmented reality filters that she designs herself, just like the rest of her music, using digital instruments and tools.
“It's symbolic to be able to change your skin color towards orange, green or blue skin, without constraints or judgement”, adds the resident of the Rosemont district, who will present her immersive show Building world without minorities on April 6 at noon at the Headquarters of the Art Souterrain festival in Montreal.
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez aka UltraK
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez aka UltraK
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
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Augmented reality filter created by artist Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
Draw inspiration from your experience
The songs that Ms. Marquez composes and performs in Spanish, French and English reflect the vision and stories of an emancipated woman, immigrant, mother and teacher, transformed by her journey since her arrival in Montreal in the year 2000. < /p>
My immigration story started as a love story, but today it has become the story of an immigrant and a mother who continues to believe and adapt to change.
Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
“My album Heart in a boxrepresents everything I've been through in recent years, which made me want to keep my heart ''in a box'' for a while”, says the artist, who was inspired in particular by his sorrows. of love, the grief she felt after the death of her father in 2020, and the despair of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, to compose her songs.
“By creating a beating heart in 3D for the cover of my digital album, I wanted to represent what it means to be a human being: a machine with a heart.
Image from the album Heart in a box by Karina Marquez, UltraK. Photo: Courtesy of
Music-in-its-veins
Coming from a family of musicians, Ms. Marquez has been immersed in the world of rock music since a young age. While her aunts founded the first female rock band in Mexico in the 1960s called Las Panteras Rosas (The Pink Panthers), it was her mother, a drummer and singer, who inspired her to follow the path of music.
I have a whole generation of women behind me, on my mother's side, who played all over Mexico and who represented women in rock music at a time when that was almost impossible.
Karina Marquez, aka UltraK
Ms. Marquez took her first steps on stage in 1996 at the age of 17, in Mexico City, opening the concert of the legendary group Garbage and sharing the stage with several renowned Mexican artists in the Latin American musical sphere, such as Julieta Venegas and the group Café Tacuba, in the years that followed.
< /p>Karnavala filter designed by the artist. Photo: Courtesy of
Underground-scene artists' grouping
Since a dozen years, UltraK has been part of the artistic collective Cosmovision Records, a multidisciplinary creative space that brings together artists from all over the world in Montreal with the aim of disseminating and promoting music with folk roots.
She has been able to collaborate with musicians, artists and DJs from Canada, Europe and Latin America in a wide variety of festivals, including the Future Forest in New Brunswick, the Timeless in Belgium and the Festival des arts of alleys of Montreal.
Performance “L’envol” by Karina Marquez, alias UltraK. Photo: Courtesy
If Ms. Marquez is proud of her career, she nevertheless deplores the lack of recognition of local artists and those from minorities in the Quebec musical sphere.
“It is very difficult because that major festivals often invite artists from elsewhere, to the detriment of artists from here. It is then in events and festivals with a community reach, even underground, that we can perform and make our art known.”
Ms. Marquez is nevertheless delighted to have been able to add a string to her bow. by becoming a virtual reality specialist at the Grasset Institute in recent years, which has opened the doors for her to collaborate soon as a virtual reality technician in the multisensory experience L'infini, presented at the Phi Center.
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This text was produced as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.
