Ari Tarr

Ari Tarr and Brendan Bradley appeared on a panel for Theater Communications Group in June of 2020 to discuss XR technologies in live performance and Ari was later interviewed on Bradley’s podcast for The 5th Wall Forum. While Ari originally expressed concerns towards the limitations of web-based virtual reality, he and his partners at Active Replica have become one of OnBoardXR’s most frequent participants, ultimately developing a full-format project, Seiukuken, from their multiple OnBoardXR prototypes and experiences to premiere at Raindance Immersive in the Fall of 2022.

Emcee and Hosting

Since the inagural OnBoardXR Seasonal Showcase, Ari Tarr has been one of our most frequent and recurring participants, gravitating toward our rotating group of Virtual Hosts, often greeting and helping attendees before and during the show, in character as the Pirate Emcee, "Codebeard", improvising banter and reactions to provide a loose framing for the disconnected Acts and Scenes.

This Land Is Island

Bradley invited Ari to join OnBoardXR: Cruise in early 2021. Ari partnered with Dasha Kittredge and Active Replica to devise an immersive performance taking places on a deserted island with a marooned couple. The audience was prompted to choose which character they wished to follow and offer relationship advice before teaming up to defeat a Kraken, puppetted by Kevin Laibson.

Haroun Desert / Magid

Ari Tarr, Dasha Kittredge, and Tyler Graham submitted a proposal to OnBoardXR: Below Deck to expand upon a concept developed at PXR Conference, hosted by Single Thread and Electric Company Theatre. In Haroun Desert audiences encountered an unreliable protagonist avatar riding an animated horse model to obscure Mozilla’s half-body avatars without legs. Participants were instructed to convince another actor to give them a potion, which would ultimately give the villain-protagonist magic powers to alter his scale, summon creatures and unlock the audiences ability to ‘fly.’

Haroun Desert was invited and included in the "OnBoardXR presents..." Charting The Stars season for Active Replica’s Constellation Project. The team re-workshopped and re-branded the story under the new name 'Magid', drawing from the creators’ own culture and history.

Jazz Organ

Ari Tarr submitted a proposal to OnBoardXR: Port of Registry to explore the potential for collaboration to repurpose a 3D artist’s existing assets into an original narrative experience. Dax Norman’s animated models were re-imagined as a cabaret inside the chest of the Emcee avatar, building upon earlier prototypes from Non-Player Character for animation tables and shape keys that could be triggered by the cue system or the performer’s vr controller.

NYU Lab

Brendan Bradley invited Dasha Kittredge, Ari Tarr and Valencia James to teach a semester of his Integrative Technology Lab at New York University in the Spring of 2022.

Seikuken

In the Summer of 2022, Active Replica offered its first ‘Artist In Residency’ program to Ari Tarr on the heels of his multiple OnBoardXR prototypes and his adjunct teaching at New York University's Lab. The resulting performance Seikuken synthesized music, 3d animation, and user interactions with “ceremony” design by Joost Eggermont and technical and managerial operation by Michael Morran. Proximity triggers similar to Strings: Prisoner and Pier to Peer altered avatars and environment. Animation tables built on the earlier prototypes from Jazz Organ and Non-Player Character.

Constellation Pilot

Ari was invited and included in the OnBoardXR presents..." Charting The Stars season for Active Replica’s Constellation Project. He chose to reimagine Haroun Desert with Tyler Graham under the new title, Magid for a week of live performances.