At first it sounded like a charming idea. But the Dubliners soon became embarrassed by the “portal”. This is a video live streaming project between New York and Dublin. Since May, the art campaign by the Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys has made it possible to take a real-time look at life at a specific point in the other city. In Manhattan there is a round screen near the Flatiron Building, in Dublin on North Earl Street overlooking the main street, O’Connell Street.
But shortly after the start, both screens had to be switched off again. The reason was “inappropriate behavior”, especially on the Irish side. Raised middle fingers or exposed bottoms were harmless, but swastikas and images of the burning World Trade Center held up in front of screens in Dublin went too far. Some Dubliners feared for Irish-US relations. Many criticized the choice of location for the screens because the area around North Earl Street is a “hotbed for drug dealing, vandalism and drunks,” says Mary Cahill, a retired librarian.
The portals that have been connecting Lithuania’s capital Vilnius and Poland’s Lublin since 2021 show that there is another way. They are a complete success and there are hardly any incidents.
But in Dublin they didn’t want to give up, after all most users remained decent, “held dance competitions, made new friends and even proposed marriage,” said Dublin’s mayor James Geoghegan.
That’s actually true, most of the time things are peaceful in front of the screen. For example, a young man toasted his New York friends with a can of beer. Another drove up on a scooter and shouted the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) battle cry “Tiocfaidh ár lá” – “Our day will come” – several times at the screen until someone pointed out that the portal was not transmitting sound.
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A global network of video portals
The portal has become one of the city’s top 10 free attractions, attracting more than 340,000 visitors since it was installed in May and breathing new life into North Earl Street, Geoghegan said.
That’s why there are now safety precautions to keep the project alive. The portal is now online between 1pm and 8pm, and inappropriate behavior will now result in the screen becoming blurry on both sides.
The New York location will continue to be guarded by security guards during operating hours, as it has been since the beginning. In addition, a fence was built in front of the portal to better control the flow of visitors.
The concept was recently expanded and the Dublin portal is now connected to Vilnius and Lublin in addition to New York. The live stream switches between cities every three minutes. Piauí in Brazil and other cities will be added this year to create a global network, says Gylys, that “invites people from distant cultures to exchange ideas across borders, differences and narratives.”
But these are people who bare their bottoms in front of cameras if they can, says the columnist Irish TimesBrianna Parkins.
She sees the project more soberly: “Those who expected us to hold hands across the portal and play acoustic guitars have obviously never been to Dublin or New York,” she wrote. Ever since cameras were invented, people have behaved badly in front of them. But one thing unites us: “There is no room for show-offs in Dublin, and like New York, the city refuses to be redeveloped.”
