sisyphus: a robotic art installation in endless interaction with power and resistance

Sisyphus art installation engages robots in endless interaction

all images courtesy of Kachi Chan

a symbol of power, resistance and hope

Kachi Chan’s Sisyphus is named after a Greek mythological character who is doomed to push a rock up a hill every day only to witness it tumble back down again afterward. With this piece, the interdisciplinary artist explores repetition through the interaction of two contrasting robotic systems; one small and nimble, the other powerful and oppressive — the Greek Sisyphus is represented in either or both of them. 

Despite the difference in size between the two robots, their struggle never ends. The large robot keeps crushing the brick arches without offering any kind of compromise. The small robots, however, continue to construct new brick arches even after they have been destroyed, displaying a collective resistance through personal autonomy. Small, scattered actions that undermine the enormous robot’s total power here constantly question the status quo. All attempts are not ‘futile,’ but rather useful due to the endurance of the small robots and their capacity to spread new, small-scale forms of resistance. As a result, Sisyphus represents both the confrontation between oppression and resistance as well as the hope that comes with the prospect of change.

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project info:

name: Sisyphus
artist: Kachi Chan

research: Pat Wingshan Wong
creative technologist: Nirav Beni, Arthur Wilson
project advisors: Ruairi Glynn, Parker Heyl, Phaedra Shanbaum
project developed at: Interactive Architecture Lab, University College London

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom