Aakarsh SinghProduct Engineer. New media artist. Co-founder of Mare.
AboutCV

CV

Resume (tech) ↓Artist CV ↓

Engineering and the artist practice in one place. PDFs of each are linked above.

Experience

Co-founder & Product Engineer

Mare·Remote
January 2026 — Present
  • Designed and built the entire product end to end (visual archive exploration, clustered navigation, contextual metadata display, import flows) for a tool that organizes fragmented visual archives for designers, artists, and researchers.
  • Architected the full stack: Next.js / TypeScript frontend, FastAPI / Python backend, Supabase (Postgres + pgvector), self-hosted embedding + LLM models on serverless GPU (Modal), Cloudflare R2, Stripe, GCP Cloud Run + Cloud Tasks.
  • Built the clustering system at the core of the product: it auto-organizes visual archives by theme and similarity with no manual tagging.
  • Onboarded 100+ designers, artists, and researchers in closed beta; processing 10,000+ reference items.

XR Software Engineer

Date 0:0 — Sara Niroobakhsh & Wafaa Bilal·Remote
August 2025 — December 2025
  • Lead developer for a mixed reality / VR gallery installation built with Unity and Meta XR SDK for standalone Quest 3.
  • Engineered spatial transitions between physical space, Meta Passthrough MR, and fully immersive VR environments.
  • Optimized assets to reduce scene memory by 60% while maintaining 90 FPS.
  • Implemented real-time NoSQL database synchronization for concurrent multi-device installations.
  • Procedurally mapped terrain and flora using satellite imagery of the region.

Instructor

Architectural Association — Playful Cartographies·Warsaw, Poland
July 2025
  • Invited to teach at "Playful Cartographies," a two-week AA Visiting School programme for international architecture and PhD students.
  • Taught them to script and build interactive, spatial work in Unreal Engine and Unity.

Product Engineer

Callback·Tokyo / Remote
May 2024 — December 2024
  • Designed and built the company's main Next.js / TypeScript site with user-facing leaderboard — grew weekly active users from 25 to 250 in three months.
  • Designed and implemented social features: user profiles, friend connections, in-app engagement flows. Doubled daily active users in one month.
  • Built an enterprise dashboard with data visualizations, Stripe payouts, and automated Twilio-mailed reports — grew active partners by 200%.
  • Orchestrated on GCP Cloud Run with CI/CD pipelines and Docker.

XR Research Fellow

NYU Tandon @ The Yard·Brooklyn, NY
June 2024 — August 2024
  • Designed and built immersive Unreal Engine environments and Niagara particle simulations for commercial productions.
  • Integrated multi-camera motion-capture and volumetric-capture pipelines into the production pipeline.
  • Work presented at NYU engineering research conference and ArtsIT: 13th EAI International Conference.

XR Software Engineer Intern

NEEEU Spaces GmbH·Berlin, Germany
May 2023 — July 2023
  • Built and shipped an AR filter for a BMW lifestyle-magazine campaign in Meta Spark Studio, faking volumetric 3D under a tight filter memory budget with custom rotation-tracking billboard and refraction shaders.
  • Created Cinema4D assets and wrote custom shader code, halving rendering time in Meta Spark Studio projects.
  • Prototyped a Unity spatial audio game with interaction design for visually impaired users — over 1,000 downloads after initial release.

Technical Associate

Electronicos Fantasticos (Ei Wada)·Tokyo, Japan
June 2022 — August 2022
  • Built electromagnetic instruments from obsolete electronics (CRT displays, electric fans, barcode scanners) with Ei Wada and the ensemble.
  • Helped stage the ensemble's Fuji Rock Festival 2022 performance.
  • Contributed to the WORLDWIDE Orchest Lab initiative for instrument-making across cities.

Full Stack Developer

Kermit Finance·Remote
March 2021 — May 2021
  • Built a Serum DEX-based decentralised exchange and Metaplex NFT marketplace using TypeScript.
  • Featured on Solana's ecosystem page during the first year.

Full Stack Developer

Slingshot·Remote
September 2020 — January 2021
  • Built a competitive programming portal with React, Firebase, Node.js, Express, and Heroku for high schools.
  • Mentored by engineers from Apple and Microsoft.

Selected Exhibitions, Performances & Screenings

2026
  • Dark Mofo(Live Visuals)
    Night Mass: Dead End · Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  • I only experience things in latent space now.(Screening)
    Shortwave × Soft Centre, Sydney Opera House · Sydney, Australia
  • To Water A Dying Garden(Group Exhibition)
    Rizq Art Initiative — "In Good Company" · Abu Dhabi, UAE
2025
  • LAND(Screening)
    Ars Electronica Festival · Linz, Austria
  • LAND(Screening)
    NYUAD Capstone Exhibition · Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Climate Cartographies(Performance)
    Alserkal Avenue · Dubai, UAE
  • Spoon Spade Shovel(Live A/V Performance)
    Jameel Arts Centre Youth Takeover · Dubai, UAE
2024
  • MUTEK Dubai(Live A/V Performance)
    MUTEK Dubai · Dubai, UAE
  • Abandoned Hotels of Zangsti(Online Group Screening)
    Re:Fest @ CultureHub · New York, NY
  • ArtsIT(Group Exhibition)
    13th EAI International Conference · Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • To Water A Dying Garden(Installation)
    MiZa Showcase · Abu Dhabi, UAE
2023
  • Collaborative Arts Fall Show(Installation & Performance)
    NYU Tisch · New York, NY
  • MANIFEST:IO(Group Exhibition)
    Alte Münze · Berlin, Germany
  • Real Art(Interactive Installation)
    Louvre Abu Dhabi University Takeover · UAE
2022
  • Fuji Rock Festival(Electronicos Fantasticos)
    Fuji Rock Festival · Niigata, Japan

Teaching

Instructor

Architectural Association Visiting School·Warsaw, Poland
July 2025
  • Taught international architecture and PhD students to script and build interactive, spatial work in Unreal Engine and Unity, at "Playful Cartographies" (AA Visiting School, Warsaw).

Instructor & Curriculum Developer

HLAB·Tokyo, Japan
August 2022, 2024
  • Created and taught original syllabi on "New Media Art" (2022) and "Hyperreality, AI-generated Content & the Metaverse" (2024) to high school students.
  • Fully funded teaching fellowship.

Residencies & Professional Development

Visiting School — Playful Cartographies (Instructor)

Architectural Association School of Architecture·Warsaw, Poland
2025
  • Taught the game-engine sessions at the Warsaw programme.

Visiting School — Climate Cartographies (Participant + Performer)

Architectural Association School of Architecture·Dubai, UAE
2025
  • Attended as a student; performed Climate Cartographies at Alserkal Avenue at the closing showcase.

DWeb for Creators

Gray Area Foundation·San Francisco, CA (Remote)
2025
  • Decentralized web technologies for creative practice.

XR Research Fellowship

NYU Tandon @ The Yard·Brooklyn, NY
2024

Press & Publications

  • “"Spoon Spade Shovel" is a layered Youth Takeover of Dubai's Jameel Arts Centre”Dazed MENA
    May 14, 2025
  • “AA Visiting School: Playful Cartographies”e-flux Announcements
    2025
  • “UAE: What does it mean to be human? University students answer through AI art, interactive exhibits”Khaleej Times
    March 9, 2023
  • “Louvre Abu Dhabi concludes first edition of 'University Take Over the Museum' programme”Emirates News Agency (WAM)
    March 8, 2023

Education

B.A. Interactive Media

New York University Abu Dhabi·Abu Dhabi, UAE
2021 — 2025
  • GPA 3.92 / 4.0, cum laude. Minors in Computer Science, Sound Computing, Art History.
  • Relevant coursework: VR/AR Development, Shader Programming, Algorithms, Game Development, Natural Language Processing, 3D Modelling & Design.

Skills

Web
TypeScript, Next.js, React, React Native, Node.js, Express, Firebase, Docker, GCP, MongoDB
Creative coding
Three.js, A-Frame, p5.js, ml5.js, WebGL, Processing, Arduino, TidalCycles
Game engines & XR
Unreal Engine, Unity, Meta XR SDK, Meta Spark Studio, C#, C++
Shader & GPU
HLSL, GLSL, custom shader programming, real-time rendering
3D & A/V
Cinema4D, Blender, Maya, Bifrost, Redshift, Substance 3D Painter, TouchDesigner, Max/MSP, Ableton
Specialized
Motion Capture, Volumetric Capture, Photogrammetry, AI Model Training (LoRA / Stable Diffusion)
© 2026 Aakarsh Singh
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