Difference and Repetition in the Robotic Art of <i>Sisyphus</i>

Abstract This paper reinterprets the robotic installation Sisyphus not as a parable of futile labor but as a generative choreography of conflict. In the work, six autonomous “Constructors” rebuild arches continuously destroyed by an industrial “Destructor.” Drawing on Deleuze’s philosophy of difference and repetition, the authors argue that this endless loop functions as an “abstract machine” that selects for creative novelty. The article introduces “dialectical robotics” to characterize this multiagent antagonism, demonstrating how the system models resilience in decentralizec networks. By analyzing the installation’s percepts of persistence and affects of struggle, the paper shows how sustained opposition catalyzes adaptation, recoding repetition as a source of difference in art, technology, and sociopolitical dynamics.