The ''New York–Dublin Portal'' (also simply known as ''The Portal'') is an

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

installation created by Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys to allow people in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to interact with each other using two 24-hour

live streaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming media, streaming of video or Digital audio, audio in real-time communication, real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature ...

video screens (without audio). The second series of installations in Gylys' '' Portal'' series, the ''New York–Dublin Portal'' has been compared to Paul St George's past art installation named the Telectroscope, which connected New York to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2008. The portal first opened on Wednesday, 8 May 2024 and closed on Monday, 2 September 2024 due to inappopriate behaviour and nudity.

History

The Portal sculpture concept was created by Benediktas Gylys. The first of these to be unveiled was the portal linking Vilnius, Lithuania to Lublin, Poland on May 26, 2021. Following its success, it was confirmed in March 2024 that by spring, Dublin and New York would be the next cities to receive them. On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, the portals were introduced in their respective cities, with the New York screen being installed on the Flatiron South Public Plaza at 23rd Street,

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

and Broadway next to the Flatiron Building, while the Dublin screen was positioned on O'Connell Street. In a press release on the same day, Gylys said they would only remain in place until autumn. To celebrate the launch, people in both cities held up signs to greet each other, with people on the New York side performing a dance routine. On June 12, 2024, a collaboration of the Museum of Mathematics in Manhattan and Maths Week Ireland saw 10-year-old schoolchildren in both New York City and

use the portal to challenge each other to solve several puzzles. In August 2024, it was announced that the ''New York–Dublin Portal'' would be deactivated. The portal was shut down on September 2, 2024 and moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

where it has been in operation since October 2024.

Abuse of the portal

On Monday, May 13, 2024, the connecting screens were turned off temporarily after "inappropriate behavior" by participants. Some on the Dublin side displayed pornography and imagery of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, projected profanities from their phone screens, and performed indecent exposure. On the New York side, an OnlyFans model exposed her breasts to those in Dublin. A

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

spokesperson said the authority had seen a "very small minority" behaving unsuitably, and technical solutions to address it were being implemented. The Council ruled out the possibility of blurring the video feed. On Sunday, May 19, the New York and Dublin Portals were placed back online with updated digital technology to blur the screen if a person entered a visual field too close to the portal. This prevented several attempts by individuals to project images through the portal's camera system.

Reception

Shortly after the ''New York-Dublin Portal'' was reactivated in May 2024, the novelist Megan Nolan wrote for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'': "There was something simian about the ''Portal'', not only in that it felt zoo-like being regarded by the other side as they waited to be entertained, but also in the way that people behave when language is out of bounds."

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.portals.org 2024 establishments in Ireland 2024 sculptures Buildings and structures completed in 2024 Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Outdoor sculptures in Ireland Outdoor sculptures in New York City Tourist attractions in Dublin (city) Tourist attractions in New York City Videotelephony Ireland–United States relations 2024 establishments in New York (state)

History

Abuse of the portal

Reception

See also

References

External links