Art installation "The Portal" opens, then closes in New York City and Dublin
Image Credit: Benediktas Gylys
In an endeavor to connect human experiences across the world, artist Benediktas Gylys recently opened a new digital art installation dubbed "The Portal". The Portal links the cities of Dublin, Ireland and New York City, New York, enticing bystanders of each city to interact with one another and get a glimpse into life on each city's streets. Unfortunately, while made with good intentions, this initiative was met with what can best be described as "shenanigans". Bystanders proceeded to make lewd gestures and sharing inappropriate images and text, generally circumventing anti-abuse measures included in the installation. In less than a week, organizers went from debuting the installation to temporarily shutting it down.
The impetus for this new installation has some precedent, as Gylys has seen previous success with these portal installations. The first portals, opened in 2021, connected Lithuania and Poland by way of two stylized digital displays, with a camera pointed away from the display. Initially intended to promote connection between people in difficult times, Gylys considered the continued cultural potential of connecting populations around the world with one another. Over the course of two years, the new portals were constructed, finally being launched on May 8th, 2024. That, as they say, was when the problems began.
Populations in Poland and Lithuania enjoyed the ability to connect with one another, particularly as the world came off the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The reason why New York and Dublin were selected as the next cities for this project was for their cultural diversity, both being featured for their "melting pot" of different lives brought together through a strong trend of immigration. Organizers planned to run the installation 24/7 for six months, security and barriers guarding the New York City portal. Despite these extra precautions, and a majority of bystanders appreciating the novelty of the experience, certain bystanders in both Dublin and New York City took the chance to try and provoke each other. Organizers are currently seeking alternatives and solutions to reactivate the portals, aiming to get the portals back online within the week of its shutdown.
The portals are an ambitious project, one that stands out as another dynamic way for people across the world to interact with one another. A literal window into other cultures. Of course, as with any publicly-available interactive experience, the experience has to be designed to cover vectors of exploitation or abuse, including adequate testing for safeguards. Sometimes, the project's vision has to be revisited with compromise in mind, and hopefully, the organizers of the installation can find an adequate way for the public to experience a glimpse into each other's lives without being disruptive.
Community building specialist, with 10+ years of experience in technology! Love meeting new people, learning more about them, cultivating insightful discussions, and helping however I can. Passionate about video games, cars, and swordfighting!
Recommended Content
Living Worlds: How Digital Twins Will Transform Immersive Experience Design and Maintenance
Please sign in
If you are a registered user on AVIXA Xchange, please sign in
It's really disheartening to see people misusing "The Portal" artwork. The piece is meant to foster cultural understanding and diversity by connecting us to another country, but instead, some are just using it inappropriately. Maybe another city would have been a better choice, given New York's reputation for unpredictable and sometimes uncomfortable behavior. It's a missed opportunity for genuine cultural exchange.
I wonder if putting it inside a building somewhere would have helped cut down on the shenanigans. Perhaps if it was inside a train station, museum, or library, viewers would have to seek out the installation which might cut down on opportunistic misbehavior.
Or people could just behave so we can have nice things.
Definitely one nice thing I've been seeing from folks in general hasn't been "should we even have this", it's been more of a "stop being weird at the portal". It's a great opportunity that, while it has some angles for things to go wrong, encourages people to get a real-life view of another part of the world. Pulling for this one to bounce back!
I second the idea of making it something that actively has to be found and intentionally visited. Planting it in the Flat Iron District of Manhattan may have seemed like a good idea because of the foot traffic and liveliness, but as pointed out, New York's population is unpredictable. Apparently it was not just the NY side that misbehaved.
I'd like to see it reopened soon and hope that it will be enjoyable rather than a nuisance to the local authorities trying to manage people acting out for 30 seconds of attention.
I am also very curious to see how it would evolve (or devolve) if we were just left to our own devices and not managed. It would be a very interesting experiment of human behavior.