Nir Harel’s work straddles art, design, and applied art. He creates installations and objects using 3D modeling software, which allows him to position objects in a space and simulate their optical and sensuous perception. Harel’s installation Balls of the Law uses the museum gallery as a game board on which to explore the representational and compositional modes of the objects scattered around it. The various pieces are realized only through play that involves space, volume and movement. Two balls are wrapped in fabric printed with 3D images, which only become fully visible when the ball is in movement – that is, when activated by the viewer.
Until then, the game is a mere potentiality. One print depicts a virtual space which, as the ball rolls, is seen to be a panoramic layout. The other is printed with an image that reflects the exhibition’s actual museum gallery. The unadorned, minimalist design of the space calls attention to the invitation to animate the forms by choosing how to engage with them. The installation is an opportunity for random encounters, at varying degrees of proximity, possibly like the chance encounters of a temporary residence away from home; a series of events momentarily connects the elements, which instantly fall apart, only to be united once again a moment later.