In a development surprising no one, the headline-making pair of giant video portals that allow people in NYC and Dublin to see each other via livestream have been temporarily shut down less than a week into their existence due to inappropriate behaviour from some passers-by.
- While the cities stress that most people have been chill, there have been cases of flashing, drug use, and, in one mega-viral incident, displaying a photo of 9/11.
Zoom in: Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys conceived the portals as a means of connecting people worldwide. He previously installed portals in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Lublin, Poland, but nobody cared much about them because they weren’t in cities most people knew of.
What’s next: Gylys and his team hope to get the portals running again next week and to try and blur bad behaviour. Dublin hopes its portal will one day connect to Poland, Brazil, and Lithuania. Gylys wants to install more portals in places like Ukraine, Iraq, and Australia.
Yes, but: Some critics doubt this will happen and feel that this was the inevitable end of the portals because we, as a species, just aren’t mature enough to handle such a thing.—QH