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‘Portal’ linking New York, Dublin by live video paused after lewd behaviour

  • A live stream video portal connecting Dublin and New York was meant to bring people in the cities together
  • Some people used it to flash naked body parts and display images of New York’s Twin Towers burning on 9/11

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New Yorkers greet people in Dublin via a Portal in Manhattan. Photo: Reuters
Associated Press

A video screen “Portal” that lets people in New York and Dublin peer into life on opposite sides of the Atlantic in real time has been a source of whimsical delight for pavement crowds in the two cities, but also a magnet for boorish behaviour that’s prompted officials to hit pause for now.

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The live streaming public art installation known as “The Portal” made its North American debut on May 8, with a circular screen set up below New York City’s iconic Flatiron Building and a companion screen on Dublin, Ireland’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, with city landmarks including the Spire in the backdrop.

Exhibit organisers touted the interactive display as a unique way to “embrace the beauty of global interconnectedness”.

“Portals are an invitation to meet people above borders and differences and to experience our world as it really is – united and one,” said Benediktas Gylys, the Lithuanian artist who conceived the installation, when the screens were unveiled to fanfare.

A Portal in Dublin, Ireland, on Monday. Photo: AP
A Portal in Dublin, Ireland, on Monday. Photo: AP

But just days into a run that was to have continued into the fall, the portals were shut down Monday night after videos spread on social media of people behaving badly – from an OnlyFans model in New York baring her breasts to Dubliners holding up swastikas and displaying images of New York’s Twin Towers burning on September 11.

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