Innovation: Connecting New York City to Dublin through a virtual ‘portal’

The Portal was initially presented in 2021 to bring nations together and has previously established comparable portals in Lithuania and Poland.

A portal has opened between Dublin in Ireland and New York, allowing people over 3,000 miles apart to see and engage with one another in real time.

The futuristic sculpture, called 'The Portal,' forms a 24-hour virtual bridge that broadcasts life from across the Atlantic.

The New York City Portal is in front of the Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue, while Dubliners may find their local portal on O'Connell Street, between the Spire and the GPO.

When The Portal was launched on 8 May, crowds from both countries gathered with signs reading 'Hello from New York' and 'Welcome to Dublin.'

The displays will be open until the autumn, but no formal expiration date has been established.

"Portals are an invitation to meet people across borders and differences and to experience our world as it truly is—united and one," stated Benediktas Gylys, a Lithuanian artist and the creator of The Portal.

“The livestream creates a portal between faraway locales, allowing people to meet outside of their social networks and cultures, cross geographical borders, and appreciate the beauty of global interconnectedness,” added Gylys.

The Portal was initially presented in 2021 by the Gylys’ foundation, a non-profit that strives to bring nations together and has previously established comparable portals in Lithuania and Poland.

Gylys first came up with the idea in 2016, after a spiritual experience caused him to see the world through a new lens. He felt compelled to 'counter polarising views' and establish a means for individuals from different cultures to communicate. He contributed the vast bulk of the funding required to construct the first two portals in partnership with a team from VilniusTech University in Lithuania.

The first two portals will open in May 2021 in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and the Polish city of Lublin.

Video Credit: ABC News

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