The viral NYC-Dublin “portal” is open again!

UPDATE: As of June 6, 2024, “The Portal” is officially back open daily from 8am to 3pm.

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“The Portal,” a public technology sculpture that debuted near the Flatiron Building on May 8 featuring a webcam connecting NYC and Dublin with a 24/7 live video stream, was supposed to be a uniting cultural force, broadcasting real-time videos of scenes from two corners of the world. 

Unfortunately, though, that’s not exactly what happened: “The Portal” has just shut down temporarily following “inappropriate behavior” from folks in the Irish capital. Clearly, we don’t deserve cool art projects.

According to the New York Post, people in Dublin have been flashing swastikas, their own bare bottoms and even more unbecoming images that have gone viral. Have you not seen the video of the “very drunk” woman getting led away by cops in Ireland after “slapping and grinding against the portal?”

You’d be pardoned for laughing at the sight of New Yorkers watching the scene unfold from 3,200 miles away. Here it is, just in case:

The Dublin City Council put out an official statement about the developments earlier this week, pointing out that, despite the videos circulating on social media, the “overwhelming majority of interactions are positive.” That being said, changes clearly need to be made for the 3.5-ton portals to continue operating properly.

“While we cannot control all of these actions, we are implementing some technical solutions to address this and these will go live in the next 24 hours,” the political body said in the statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days with our partners in New York to ensure that portals continue to deliver a positive experience for both cities and the world.”

No exact details about what those fixes will look like or when, exactly, they will be implemented have been made public yet. 

Although some attendees have stepped up to the webcam to sweetly address people on the other side of the screen—some even setting up timed meetings with loved ones across the the ocean!—the improper behaviors have taken center stage, showcasing the most deplorable aspects of human nature. 

We’d be remiss not to point out that, we’re surprised. New Yorkers can be very indecorous but it wasn’t our behavior that has forced the art project’s organizers to shut things down!