A portal that connects New York and Dublin in real-time just opened in Dublin, and this is what happened just after a few hours.
Tech Update:
THE PORTAL: a visual bridge connecting New York City to Dublin
A public technology sculpture known as The Portal was unveiled this morning in New York City’s ’s Flatiron neighborhood. The sculpture has a real-time, visual live stream connecting New York City to Dublin, Ireland. pic.twitter.com/ATNBq63QeC
— Noel Y. Calingasan • NYC (@nyclovesnyc) May 8, 2024
The Dublin-New York portal, a livestreaming art piece, was launched on May 8 2024, to bring people together via technology. However, it has been temporarily closed due to the public’s “inappropriate behaviour.” Reportedly, the decision to shut it down was made after a few bystanders used profanity words, made wild gestures, and displayed body parts inappropriately.
About NYC-Dublin Portal
It is a live video streaming portal that connects New York and Dublin in real time, launched on May 8, 2024. It is an open technology sculpture artistically designed and developed to bring the world together. As per The Guardian, the Portal’s structure has a 2.4-meter diameter screen that weighs 3.5 tonnes. It is currently set up in two iconic cities- New York City (Flatiron South Plaza at Broadway and 23rd Street) and Dublin, Ireland (O’Connell Street and Henry). The Portal invites people to come and experience the moments of meeting fellow humans above borders and exploring the world as it is from two completely different cities.
The Lithuanian Artist and founder of the Portal, Benediktas Gylys said, “Portals are an invitation to meet people above borders and differences and to experience our world as it is- united and one.” Further, he adds, The livestream provides a window between distant locations, allowing people to meet outside of their social circles and cultures, transcend geographical boundaries, and embrace the beauty of global interconnectedness.”
Regarding the target timings, it was previously planned to open the Portal to the general public 24/7 for six months.
The Portal has been shut down already
After its release, the Dublin City Council expectedly announced that it would soon link to other cities in Poland, Brazil, and Lithuania. It aimed to connect artists, entrepreneurs, and onlookers from different cities in real-time. But it had to close temporarily due to inappropriate behaviour, embarrassing acts, and tactless acts socially.
US🇺🇸 Ireland🇮🇪
Irish people are using the new "virtual portal" between Dublin and New York City to make jokes about the 9/11 terrorist attacks pic.twitter.com/VgrpiYqDmx
— I$lami© T€rrorist (@raviagrawal3) May 11, 2024
Public’s Inappropriate Behaviour:
As per an Instagram post, a drunk woman was there for about 20 minutes and was slapping and grinding against the Portal before guards detained and took her away from the Dublin portal. Afterwards, the video went viral across social media platforms.
Another woman was seen dancing provocatively right in front of the Portal’s window.
Besides that, a group of users flashed their body parts and used swear words while the video of the World Trade Centre (September 11 attack) was transmitted to New York viewers, as per reports.
According to Forbes, a man has been spotted pulling down his pants in several social media videos, while OnlyFans model and social media influencer Ava Louise has lifted her shirt.
New York City to Dublin portal shuts down after people act in rude/lewd manner. 🙄
A OnlyFans gal in NYC flashed her boobs to the Irish, who were not amused.
You can’t have nice things in a society of weirdos. pic.twitter.com/the0M1eBkO
— S.L. Kanthan (@Kanthan2030) May 16, 2024
These are a few of the incidents on the vast list, and videos and footage of all of these inappropriate behaviours have been posted and reacted to by millions of social media users worldwide.
Dublin City Council Stated
The Founding Team and City Council asserted that they are developing strategies to stop inappropriate behaviours immediately. They are also planning to deploy more staff at the locations to monitor each individual on the Portal.
On Monday, Dublin City Council stated, “While we cannot control all of these actions, we are implementing some technical solutions to address this, and these will go live in the next 24 hours.”
Also, The Flatiron Nomad Partnership claimed that it would deploy software updates to “limit such behaviour appearing on the live stream.”
Whereas,
In an Irish Independent column, Amy Donohoe expressed, “Not even a week in, and Dubliners have truly embarrassed us around the world. Anyone who goes and stands in front of the Portal is representing our little country. Still, if we’re showing off a drunken culture and being offensive, it could potentially affect tourism in Ireland in the long run. People may not want to come here if this is what they’re seeing.”
The Flatiron Nomad Partnership further added, “The overwhelming majority of visitors have behaved appropriately and experienced the sense of joy and connectedness that this work of public art is intended to evoke.”
Reportedly, New York organisers underlined that a “very small minority” were responsible for the unpleasant behaviour.
What’s your opinion of the New York City-Dublin Portal and humans’ inappropriate behaviours?
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