Alien101
About
Look, I'm Lola Marquez - but you can call me Alien101. I make visuals for electronic music, and yes, I believe in aliens. If that's a problem for you, the door's that way.
Here's the thing: I share my flat with two mannequins and a husband. The mannequins are better models because they don't complain when I dress them up or dismember them for art. My work is surreal because reality is overrated, and I'd rather spend my time creating something that looks like it crawled out of a David Lynch fever dream crossed with a Stanley Kubrick film set.
I call myself a digital pop artist, which is a fancy way of saying I take my emotional response to music and turn it into something you can watch while you're dancing. My influences include the usual suspects: Lynch, Kubrick, Dorothea Tanning, Tim Walker - but honestly, the best inspiration comes from my own weird brain and a belief that the universe is stranger than we're willing to admit.
When I perform live, I use VDMX for VJing and MadMapper for video mapping. Technical stuff aside, here's what matters: I don't hide in some dark corner operating a laptop. I stand on stage next to the musician because that's where the energy is. If you're going to create visuals for electronic music, you should be part of the show, not relegated to the sidelines like some kind of tech support.
Portfolio
I've been doing this across London for a while now - StowLab, Plugged, CRUX, Feedback, Imerse Presents, 5th Dimension and Ravenswood for Eat or Heat Festival. Currently, I'm collaborating with Sol Flare (Dominic Wood, an Australian electronic musician who knows his way around 80's synths and dance floor beats). We make weird, soulful stuff together.
Videos
This one's for The Master, a DJ and music producer. We live-streamed it at a Plugged IN event back in October 2020, because apparently performing during a pandemic required some creativity.
February 2020 - back when we could actually gather in rooms together. This was Feedback Presents My Bloody Valentine at the Paxton Centre. Good times.
And this is for And/Or's track Chattels. Played it at the launch of their Satellites EP at New River Studios, along with some other material that made people either dance or stare in confused fascination. Both reactions are fine by me.
Stills
Here's a sample of what I throw up on screens during gigs. One of my favorite tricks is embedding messages in the visuals - stuff the audience can actually interact with or respond to while they're dancing. It turns the whole thing into a conversation instead of just passive consumption.
Green Man
Astronauts
Cosmic
UFO Engineer
Exist
Doll Parts
Mannequin
We Are Not Alone
Contact
If you want to work together on something - whether it's a one-off gig, a series of shows, or a music video that'll make people say "what the hell did I just watch?" - drop me a line below. I'm always up for collaborating with musicians who aren't afraid to get weird.