Torin Blankensmith and Peter Whidden formed a creative-coding organization while at college together. They hosted weekly workshops for students from various disciplines on emerging topics in computer graphics. It was in this group that the first prototype of Shader Park was developed.
Torin is a freelance creative technologist and adjunct professor at the Parsons School of Design in New York City teaching TouchDesigner and Creative Coding. Based out of NEW INC, Torin creates immersive installations, experiences, interfaces, and websites. Torin’s work explores emerging techniques in real-time graphics pulling inspiration from systems and patterns of emergent behavior in nature. This work has translated into creating large scale environments for medical professionals to alleviate stress/burnout, for patients in clinical studies aiding in neuroscience research on brain recovery, and for commercial spaces bringing sanctuary to the urban landscape.
Peter is a creative software engineer whose work spans physics, astronomy, machine learning, and computer graphics. He currently works at the NY Times R&D lab focused on emerging computer vision and graphics techniques. Previously, Pete has worked with CERN to build interactive 3D visualizations used in particle physics. He’s also developed software with the Data Intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology (DIRAC) Institute which enabled the discovery of over 30 new minor planets in the Kuiper belt. Recently his artistic collaborations with Alex Miller of SpaceFiller have been featured in galleries and in a permanent installation in Seattle.