A livestream ‘portal’ between Dublin and New York has reopened after it was temporarily shut down due to “inappropriate behaviour”.
The portal – an interactive sculpture that uses a webcam to connect the two cities – caused chaos earlier this month when people began flashing various body parts and displaying a photo of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the 24/7 live video feed.
Now, nearly five days after the plug was pulled, the portal reopened on Sunday with new restrictions.
Under the new measures, the stream will now only be live for a select period of time over the coming weeks, running from 6am to 4pm (local time) in New York and from 11am to 9pm (local time) in Dublin.
Flower beds have also been placed at the foot of the portal in Dublin to stop people from getting too close, while the New York site now has fencing around it.
Dublin City Council said in a statement that the “overwhelming majority of people who have visited the Portal sculptures have experienced the sense of joy and connectedness that these works of public art invite people to have”.
However, it reminded the public that the portal, which faces the city’s bustling O’Connell Street, is not meant to be touched.
“We have taken steps to limit instances of people stepping on the portal and holding phones up to the camera lens,” the statement said.
“The Portals.org team has implemented a proximity-based solution. 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.”
Portals.org bills it as a “bridge to a united planet.”
When it was installed on May 8, the portal initially enabled passers-by in either city to see—but not hear—what’s happening on the other side 24 hours a day on a massive video screen.
Flashing acts
Within hours of the Dublin portal going live, a “very drunk” woman in her 40s was led away by cops and arrested after “grinding” her backside against the screen, as Liza Linnane, the woman who filmed video of the incident, explained in the comments of her Instagram post.
“Basically she was there for about 20 mins very drunk and was slapping and grinding against the portal before guards stepped in,” she wrote.
Anther video posted on social media showed a man waving at a crowd on the New York side in broad daylight before dropping his trousers and mooning onlookers before stumbling away.
But it wasn’t just those in Dublin who took part in the antics.
OnlyFans model Ava Louise, who has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram, claimed she forced organisers to pull the plug on the portal after she flashed her breasts from New York.
“I thought the people of Dublin deserved to see two New York, homegrown potatoes,” she said in an Instagram video showing her raising her tank top in front of the portal.
Ms Louise also posted footage of her boyfriend talking to purported security later on who said the portal would be “down for quite some time” in hopes of cracking down on vulgar acts.
“It’s very unfortunate that people are not acting in the best way,” the staff member said.
Another person in Dublin, missing the point of the exhibit entirely, brandished a mobile phone showing the chilling image of United Airlines Flight 175 careening toward the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, with the crowd on the New York side groaning in response.
A connection between two cities
While some have participated in untoward behaviour, others have been taking advantage of the unusual opportunity to connect with faraway loved ones in a way that feels “a little more real” than a texting or Facetime as Mackenna Vickory, 23, a paralegal from Brooklyn, described it.
Ms Vickory was at the portal to see her parents, who have lived in Dublin for six years for her father’s job.
“It’s so funny to be able to see them, it’s very emotional, it’s so nice,” she told the New York Post.
“I think we’re so used to texting and calling and FaceTime that this feels a little more real and exciting to see them in their element and up close.
“It feels really exciting and strange and serendipitous and lucky just to have it pop up between two cities where I live and my parents live.”
Creator Benediktas Gylys said: “As humans we are creating the Portals experience together.”
“I invite local communities not only to enjoy but to care about their Portals and how other community members are approaching the sculptures.”
New York’s and Dublin’s portals are the third and fourth exhibits to be set up.
The first matching pair went live in May 2021, connecting the European cities of Vilnius, Lithuania, and Lublin, Poland.
-With the New York Post.