Culture and Society
The "portal" between New York, USA, and Dublin, Republic of Ireland, has reopened this week, despite previously having to shut down due to "inappropriate behavior".
Earlier this month, a "portal" – really a livestream of the two locations broadcast onto two large circular screens – was launched.
"Portals are an invitation to meet people above borders and differences and to experience our world as it really is - united and one," Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, who created the project, explained in a statement. “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.”
Though largely people were on board with the project, the portals were shut down less than a week later after it became clear some people cannot be trusted with a camera pointing in their direction.
Soon after the portal began streaming, videos of inappropriate behavior began circulating online. These include people in Dublin holding up images of the 9/11 attacks to the camera, swear words and other inappropriate images displayed on phone screens, and people mooning at New York.
The portal was temporarily shut down, while Dublin City Council looked into "technical solutions" to the problem, which RTÉ reported would involve blocking images held up to the portal's cameras from being displayed at the other end.
The portal has now been reopened, albeit with additional fencing, and a system to automatically shut down the cameras if anybody attempts to obstruct the camera (e.g. by holding up a phone screen to the camera displaying footage of 9/11).
"Now, if individuals step on the Portal and obstruct the camera, it will trigger a blurring of the livestream for everyone on both sides of the Atlantic," Dublin City Council said in a statement, stressing that the overwhelming reaction to the portals had been positive. "The team will continue making updates as needed to ensure that everyone can continue to enjoy the Portal."
The portals will also only be open from 11am to 9pm in Dublin, and 6am to 4pm in New York, perhaps hoping to avoid some of the more unruly, late-night behavior being broadcast across the Atlantic.
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