PHASE GALLERY
PHASE Gallery features work that blends technology, social impact, and art in new innovative mediums. Creators that work in the realms of both bits and atoms – Digital and Physical matter. PHASE Gallery celebrates the process and technical craft of artists, designers, and engineers creating on the cutting edge and making an impact on their communities.
Currently on view:
BATHGATE: The Machinist Sculptor
By Christopher Bathgate
Visitors to the exhibition will view a selection of Bathgate’s machined metal works made as part of a formalistic and conceptual investigation of modern, computer numerically controlled machining as a creative medium. The entire body of work serves as an ongoing investigation into this concept, where each piece informs the next in a continuous cycle of ideation, problem-solving, fabrication, analysis, and revision. His aesthetic considerations are deeply intertwined with the very machines he employs, leading to a symbiotic relationship where the machinery itself evolves alongside his sculptures.
Playing with the tension between aesthetic and utility, form and function, industrial and handmade, Bathgate’s work challenges traditional categorizations. His sculptures are meticulously engineered, with every detail methodically designed from the ground up. Yet, they transcend mere technical prowess, evoking a sense of creative logic that captivates viewers.
“Modern manufacturing has created a space where there are a great number of craftsmen practicing a way of working that no longer has a place in a modern factory. There is room now to explore these machines and techniques for what other purposes they might serve. We can now mine them for their worth as a means of personal expression.”
–CHRISTOPHER BATHGATE
About Christopher Bathgate
Chris Bathgate is a self-taught machinist and machine builder. He has spent over two decades building and modifying a variety of metalworking tools and automated machinery to create intricately machined metal sculptures that defy easy classification. Through his work, the artist has attempted to coin the term “studio machining” as an emerging field within the fine arts. His works are fundamentally engineered, every detail methodically designed from the ground up. They illustrate that creativity alone does not drive human imagination, but that inspiration comes from the need to overcome technical challenges. By combining the math and logistics of modern machine work with an emotive problem-solving ethic, the artist bends the physical constraints of his medium to an aesthetic that plays on ideas of utility and ambiguous design intent. The result is precise and other worldly art objects that exude a creative logic all their own. Chris is author of the book “The Machinist Sculptor: Industry Meets Craft,” which explores the history of Machine work and its evolving status as a fine art craft, through the lens of his pioneering sculpture practice. It serves as a contemporary reflection on the modern state of craft, and a historical corrective to the technological dogmas that emerged during the studio craft movements of the 20th century.
Bathgate’s work has been exhibited at the Fuller Craft Museum, National Museum of Industrial History, MECM, and more. Learn more at www.chrisbathgate.com
Gallery Shop
MACHINIST SCULPTOR: Industry Meets Craft
by: Christopher Bathgate
Art Book Signed by Artist
On View in Pennsylvania Avenue Window
September – November 2024 in Phase Gallery
November 2024-April2025 in Pennsylvania Avenue Window
DANCING COLUMNS: Equation-based Robotic Fabrication
by Joseph Choma and Luis Pacheco
This gallery showcases an exploration of robotic 3D printed objects generated from mathematical equations, created by Joseph Choma and Luis Pacheco, with fabrication support from the RDF Lab at FIU. The featured objects are derived from a family of morphed toruses, where altering the parameters of the equations leads to captivating and unexpected geometric features. The forms emerge from a complex interplay of sine and cosine functions, as seen in the provided equations, where variables are manipulated to create intricate, undulating surfaces. This collaboration bridges the gap between digital design and physical manifestation, emphasizing the artistic potential of mathematical equations in creating dynamic forms. A deeper study of these geometric mutations can be found in the book, “Morphing: A Guide to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and Designers” by Joseph Choma, which delves into the processes and theories behind these transformations.
Joseph Choma is Director of the School of Architecture and Professor of Architecture at Florida Atlantic University. Previously, he taught at The Cooper Union, MIT, and Clemson University. He was the 2019-20 NCCR Digital Fabrication Researcher in Residence at the ETH Zurich and received awards from the AIA, ACMA, and ACADIA — including the 2023 ACADIA Innovative Research Award of Excellence. His material explorations have been noted by CompositesWorld Magazine as “spearheading research into the use of foldable composites.” He is the inventor of Foldable Composite Structures — U.S. Patent Number 10,994,468. Additionally, he is the author of three books, Morphing: A Guide to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and Designers (2015), Études for Architects (2018) and The Philosophy of Dumbness (2020). Joseph completed graduate studies in design and computation at MIT and completed his PhD in Architecture at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Cambridge International Scholar.
Luis Pacheco is a Robotics and Digital Fabrication Research Specialist at Florida International University, where he also serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Architecture and the Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab. With a deep specialization in digital manufacturing, computational design, and architectural robotics, his research emphasizes innovative workflows in additive manufacturing for construction and the development of robot control interfaces. He is also the founder of Neobrutal Studio a consulting company for additive manufacturing and robotics and was previously the co-founder and CEO of MakerMex, Mexico’s first 3D printer manufacturing company,he was recognized as one of MIT’s Innovators Under 35 in 2016.
Exhibition Archive
March – August 2024
THE UNDERWATER by Xavier Cortada
Miami-Dade County artist-in-residence Xavier Cortada engages the public with “The Underwater”, a socially engaged art project debuting at The Phase Gallery in Moonlighter FabLab Miami Beach during The Aspen Ideas Climate Summit and will remain on view through May 31st, 2024. This community-based initiative calls attention to the climate crisis through site-specific yard signs that creatively reveal South Florida’s vulnerability to rising seas, spark climate conversations, and catalyze civic engagement.
Visitors of The Underwater exhibit are introduced to the county-wide initiative, then encouraged to engage in the participatory art project by discovering the elevation of their home, and drawing that number on a blank yard sign. Once residents place these elevation marked signs in their front yard, curiosity from neighbors, friends, and family is instantly sparked as the meaning of the number is unknown to anyone not familiar with the project.
“By mapping the impending crisis, I make the invisible visible. Block by block, house by house, neighbor by neighbor, I want to make the future impact of sea level rise something impossible to ignore. “I hope to engage my neighbors as problem solvers who will learn and work together now to better prepare themselves and their heirs for the chaos to come.”
– XAVIER CORTADA
November 2023 – February 2024
HUMAN X AI/ROBOTIC ART with Robohood
Robohood Founder Vladimir Tsimberg is a Physician, Entrepreneur, and an emerging artist. He created Robohood with the premise that an artist’s ability to put their ideas onto canvas can be inhibited by physical limitations, such as limited visual-spatial perception or a physical disability. Vladimir became convinced that an artist’s physical limitations should not limit their ability to imagine and create. What if everyone can paint with the help of robotics and artificial intelligence? In May 2021, Vladimir Tsimberg teamed up with engineers, programmers, and technology experts to establish Robohood, revolutionizing the arts by introducing robotic painting technology worldwide. Artists can now embark on a new journey by collaborating with a robot adding new depth to the creative process. The artist can program various parameters including painting techniques, strokes, and colors – to develop new iterations of their creative visions. A true robot/human collaboration for an emerging form of art – elevating the abilities of the artist with a new medium for creativity.
July – October 2023
Witch Doctor’s BattleBots Boneyard
For the opening of the exhibition, over 3 Days, Witch Doctor lead a community workshop to teach beginners how to build their own 3D printed 1lb combat robots. The week culminated in a Creative Mornings Talk by Andrea Gellatly, the Team Captain at Witch Doctor, followed by a full day of robot competitions with the newly built bots! Everyone enjoyed the debut of the new exhibition in the PHASE Gallery that highlights battle damaged parts from many fan favorite teams from the popular Discovery Channel competition show.
Inaugural Exhibition
February 2023 – July 2023
RAW.CUT
The Laser Cut Art of Neil Paterson
Architect and artist Neil Paterson blends a knowledge and love of traditional architectural proportions with a joy in the details of odd science fiction references and old machinery to create an intriguing, abstract combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Inspired by the spectacular landscapes, textures, and history of his hometown in Scotland.