Two giant circular livestream video “portals” now connect New York City and Dublin, Ireland — all part of one artist’s plan to bring the world closer together.
This pair of portals, which went live on Wednesday, connects the two cities — which are more than 3,000 miles apart — with a 24/7 live video link. The New York portal is located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, while the Dublin portal is installed near O’Connell Street, the city’s main thoroughfare.
The organization behind the installations, Portals.org, had already set up portals in Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland in May 2021. Portal founder Benediktas Gylys, a Lithuanian artist, writer and entrepreneur, funded the original project, but local groups have collaborated on the portal installations.
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The project was “designed as a testament to the power of art to overcome physical barriers,” the Flatiron NoMad Partnership said in a press release.
Other organizations involved include the Simons Foundation, a science philanthropy, NYC DOT Art, Dublin City Council, the EU Capital of Smart Tourism,
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With four portals now in operation, the project is “coming closer to realizing its vision,” according to the Portals.org website, of broadcasting the livestream video alternately between cities.
So New Yorkers can now see Dublin through their portal, but soon they could be connected to people in Lithuania and Poland, where the original portals are located.
“The most misunderstood thing about portals, which sometimes frustrates me a little, is that it’s not about just connecting two countries,” Benediktas Gylys said in an Instagram video in September 2023. “Portals are sculptures that form a global network that will serve as a bridge to a united planet.”
“Every minute the connection changes between several countries of the world, inviting us all to meet across borders and differences,” said Gylys.
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In Dublin, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, oversaw the launch of the portal in his city. “One of my main goals as Lord Mayor is to make the city more inclusive,” he said in a statement.
“The Portals project embodies this, bringing together technology, engineering and art to bring communities from around the world closer together and enable people to meet and connect outside their social circles and cultures,” he said.
Portals can bring “huge joy”
The idea for a portal came to Gylys in 2016 after a mystical experience, he says. A team from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University helped complete the first two sculptures.
The sculptures are circular in shape as a tribute to the use of circular portals for travel through time and space in science fiction – examples include the Star Trek episode “Frontier Town”, the Stargate films and television series, and the video game “Portal”.
The interactive art structures intentionally have no sound. “Portals invite us to meet across language barriers and connect using the only global language known to all of humanity: body language,” says the website Portals.org. “We believe that by adding more features, we detract from the essential experience that Portals provides.”
Gylys has seen how people transform when they encounter a portal.
“Usually people just smile and wave, sometimes they start competitions about which couple can form a more complex heart with their hands; there are also dance competitions,” he told Fast Company in 2021. “Even the most serious people who look like they’ve never waved to anyone in their lives start smiling and waving with joy!”
The goal of the portal experience: “In a world of increasingly polarizing narratives, it’s important to remember that we’re all in this together on this tiny, beautiful spaceship called Earth.” Gylys plans to build more portals in the future. He mentioned London and Reykjavik, Iceland to Fast Company. Cities interested in hosting a portal can contact Gylys and the team on the portal site.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York now has a portal that connects it to Dublin, Ireland
