Over a two-week period in London and Paris in 2000, Chaimowicz produced a series of interconnected images using twenty packs of Polaroid film. The paired sets of photographs, generated in quick-fire fashion as the artist made his way through the two cities, extended Chaimowicz’s continuing enquiries into cultural difference, aesthetic nomadism and non-places, and explored the correspondences between aspects of modern urban life across national boundaries.

Chaimowicz’s Pendulum Polaroids made reference to the various ways in which photography can be used and took their lead from street photography, advertising and documentation. While some of the images were pin-sharp, others were blurred and indistinct. Collectively, they mirrored the rhythms of city living and revealed the artist’s interest in myth making and the cult of the voyeuristic gaze. They were subsequently purchased for the collection of the South London Gallery.

Commissioned by the Ruskin School of Art in association with the Maison Française d’Oxford and supported by funding from Southern Arts.