He met the installation artist Judy Pfaff as a studio art undergraduate at Skidmore College in 1985 and went on to work in her studio.^2,5 He also worked in the studio of Donald Lipski in 1987 and later earned a Master of Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in 1992.²

His installation work is organized around what he calls Machine DNA, a system of shared identity expressed across browser, sound, and installation forms.^1,6 Surrender Machines (2025–2026) translates three emotions, anger, ego, and attachment, into mechanical structures that a viewer can adjust until the machine quiets.⁷ Living Commons (2026) is a browser-based piece that requires two simultaneous viewers to generate a shared visual result, so no encounter repeats.⁸ Shared Ground, sited in McDonough, Georgia, tracks how multiple visitors move through a room and surfaces historical photographs where their paths intersect.⁹ He began blockchain-based digital work in 2022 and later moved toward browser-based works that he hosts directly rather than distributing through NFT platforms, including pieces from his Technical Drawing series released on Teia.^6,10

In 2026, Walhimer exhibited at “Miradas Tangentes” and Sala Siroco, both in Madrid, and at Prix Ars Electronica's Interactive Art+.^2,3,8 That year he also took part in “Myths & Legends”, a themed release by Art Commissions on Tezos (ACTZ), and in the Loop Art Critique program at the Institute of Contemporary Art.²

That early experience making installation sculpture led him toward planning museum spaces.⁵ He has been managing partner of Museum Planning LLC, a consultancy founded in 1999, since 2009.^2,3 Walhimer has served as Executive Director of the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon, Georgia, design consultant to the Smithsonian Institution, and project director for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.² He is the author of Museums 101 (2015) and Designing Museum Experiences (2021), both published by Bloomsbury, and is a Fulbright Specialist.^2,4,5