Digital Installation · New Media Art

Mark
Walhimer

Currently on view

Technical Objects Exist — Surrender Machine 77823 ICA Miami · through 5 Oct 2026

Recent

Miradas Tangentes Madrid · 2026
The Wrong Biennale — Eclipse Online · 2026
Async Museum — inaugural exhibition Online · 2026

Installations

Bloom / Four Walls Four-wall environment
Living Commons Room-scale

All installations · Full CV

Works run live and generate in real time · self-contained, no external dependencies
p5.js · WebGL · GLSL shaders
Full catalog — additional works and sketches View Full Catalog →

Practice

"I use code and real-time systems as a lens for acceptance, control, and agency."

Machine DNA — one seed, many bodies — as a way to think about acceptance, control, and agency.

The early anchor was Surrender Machines — the question of whether a machine could surrender for us. What started as a pun became a serious structure for thinking about acceptance: what part of life can be controlled, and what has to be accepted?

From abstract painting systems and geometric studies, the work evolved toward light-sculptural environments: cubes, rotating fields, color architecture. The shift was from producing static pictures to staging live behavior.

After beginning blockchain-based digital work in 2022, the practice moved from platform-bound outputs toward site-native, browser-native systems built and hosted directly — outside any platform's control. Moon Walking and Bloom / Four Walls continue the same inquiry. The goal is to build perceptual situations where viewers can feel the tension between control and release, and decide how they want to participate.

Working in p5.js, WebGL, and GLSL shaders. All works run live and generate in real time.

Full practice statement → Machine DNA artwork pipeline → Critique question + recent work →

Biography

Mark Walhimer (b. 1964) is a digital installation artist whose practice uses real-time systems and generative code to build perceptual environments.

He began in the studios of Judy Pfaff (1985) and Donald Lipski (1987). His institutional work spans three continents — a career spent designing spaces that respond to the people who inhabit them, which feeds directly into a studio practice concerned with co-creation, emergence, and shared space.

Working in p5.js, WebGL, and GLSL shaders, he builds browser-based works that run live, generate in real time, and change with every viewing. Author of Museums 101 and Designing Museum Experiences (Bloomsbury).

Selected CV

Exhibitions
Miradas Tangentes Madrid · 2026
Formation
Studio of Judy Pfaff 1985
Studio of Donald Lipski 1987
Pratt Institute MFA · Industrial & Exhibition Design
Skidmore College BA · Studio Art
Honors & Appointments
Fulbright Specialist U.S. Department of State
Smithsonian Institution Design Consultant

Full bio / CV →

Acquire /
Commission

Works are available as limited hardware editions — custom-built systems that include the software, hardware, and installation documentation required for permanent display.

Site-specific commissions are available for institutional and architectural contexts. The artist is personally involved in every installation.

There is no gallery intermediary. Inquiries go directly to the studio and receive a response within 48 hours.

mark@walhimer.com

Response within 48 hours.

Private collection
Institutional acquisition
Site-specific commission
Civic / public art program
Exhibition / curatorial

  • Private
    Private Collection
    Limited hardware edition with artist certificate. Available for residential and private institutional display. Artist supervises installation for all room-scale works.
  • Institutional
    Institutional Acquisition
    Museum, corporate, and university collections. Full installation and technical documentation provided. Ongoing software support included in acquisition agreement.
  • Commission
    Site-Specific Commission
    New works developed for a specific architectural context, collection, or institution. Begin with a conversation about the site and the brief.

Mark Walhimer is also Managing Partner of Museum Planning LLC.