Dublin City Council, Portals.org and the Flatiron NoMad are pleased to announce that the Portal connecting New York City and Dublin has reawakened. The livestream restarted today at 9:00 AM in New York City and 2:00 PM in Dublin, after a temporary pause earlier this week.
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.
In less than a week of operation, the Portal has attracted tens of thousands of visitors and garnered nearly two billion online impressions. The overwhelming majority of people who have visited the Portal sculptures have experienced the sense of joy and connectedness that these works of public art invite people to have.
The Portal sculptures are not meant to be touched or stepped upon. We have taken steps to limit instances of people stepping on the Portal and holding phones up to the camera lens. The Portals.org team has implemented a proximity-based solution. Now, if individuals step on the Portal and obstruct the camera, it will trigger a blurring of the livestream for everyone on both sides of the Atlantic. The team will continue making updates as needed to ensure that everyone can continue to enjoy the Portal.
The New York site will continue to have on-site security during all hours of operation, as it has had since the Portal debuted. Additionally, fencing has been installed in front of the New York Portal and more signage and spacing decals have been added to assist with crowd management and guide visitors to the optimal spots for interacting with the Portal.
For the Dublin site, physical design features are being implemented to assist with crowd management.
We are excited to welcome people in New York and Dublin back to experience this captivating visual bridge that connects these two iconic cities.
Portals.org artist and founder Benediktas Gylys added the following:
“As humans we are creating the Portals experience together. I invite local communities not only to enjoy but to care about their Portals and how other community members are approaching the sculptures.”
This is a joint statement from Dublin City Council, Portals.org and the Flatiron NoMad Partnership.