Less than a week after a video "Portal" that links Dublin and New York City by livestream was temporarily shut down because of "inappropriate behavior," the public art installations in both cities are back up and running — with some new restrictions.
The Portal is awake again, come wave to some folks in the Big Apple!! 🍎 pic.twitter.com/ldy5p4W0qa
— Dublin City Council (@DubCityCouncil) May 19, 2024
The Dublin City Council announced that "The Portal" livestream resumed Sunday morning at 9 a.m. in New York and 2 p.m. in Dublin. However, instead of operating 24/7 like it had originally, the livestream will now only run for 10 hours each day.
"The Portal will have specific hours of operation for the coming weeks with the livestream running daily from 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM in New York City and 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM in Dublin," officials said in a joint statement.
Additionally, if individuals step on "The Portal" and do anything inappropriate, the livestream will temporarily blur for people on both sides. These new safety measures come after videos circulated online showing people flashing body parts and making offensive gestures through the screens.
"The Portal" is a project that has been around since 2021, but this is the first time one has been placed in a North American city. In less than a week, the Dublin City Council said it attracted tens of thousands of visitors and generated nearly 2 billion impressions online.
The first installation, designed by Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, connected the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius and the Polish city of Lublin. It’s unclear if those cities had the same issues concerning inappropriate behavior.
Dublin officials said they plan to keep the installation up through the fall of this year and will eventually add connections to other cities in Lithuania, Poland and Brazil.
