New interactive art installation in New York City allows cross-continental communication with Dublin, Ireland

CNN
–

New interactive art installation in New York City lets viewers communicate with people 3,000 miles away DublinIreland.

The idea of ​​Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, “the Portal” was unveiled on Wednesday and will allow people on both sides of the Atlantic to interact with each other via video link.

New Yorkers can go to the Flatiron South Public Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street, next to the Flatiron Building, to see people on O’Connell Street in Dublin on the 24/7 visual live stream, which according to a Wednesday press release.

The idea “was created as a testament to the power of art to overcome physical barriers,” read the press release from Gylys and officials from New York City and Dublin.

It will remain in place through the fall of this year, according to the press release, with several cultural performances to be held in front of the centers in both cities.

“Portals are an invitation to meet people above borders and differences and to experience our world as it really is – unified and one,” Gylys said in a statement.

“The livestream provides a window between distant places, allowing people to meet outside their social circles and cultures, transcend geographic boundaries, and embrace the beauty of global interconnectedness .”

The mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, said that he aims to make the capital of Ireland more inclusive.

“The Portals project embodies this, bringing together technology, engineering and art to bring communities from around the world closer together and to enable people to meet and connect across outside their social circles and their cultures,” he said.

The centers are the latest in a series of ports built by Gylys, with the first pair opening in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and the Polish city Lublin in 2021.

The Dublin portal will also connect to other centers in Lithuania and Poland from July onwards, de Róiste said in the statement.

This is not the first time that an artist has brought New Yorkers closer to people across the Atlantic.

In 2008, British artist Paul St. George connected the city with London through his ​​Telectroscope, which allowed people in New York to visually communicate with those in the British capital.

However, in this case the device responsible was the Telectroscope, a bronze and wooden device that was 11.2-meters (37 feet) long by 3.3-meters (11 feet) high.