Thirty minutes at the world famous Portal

In 1998, Australian director Peter Weir gave the world a glimpse into what it would be like if someone became the unwitting star of their own television show in Jim Carrey film The Truman Show.

The film took the Andy Warhol quote about everyone being world famous for 15 minutes and took it to the logical extreme.

Since then, anyone with access to a smartphone can become world famous for a hot minute and forge a career in show business through social media.

In recent weeks, Dublin and New York were linked by a Portal, which allowed people to get a glimpse into New York, while New Yorkers were able to get a look at Dublin’s streets.

Linked via webcam on a circular ring, people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were able to get a glimpse into their respective daily lives.

The Dublin Portal faces towards the Spire and the GPO, while the New York side displays the Flatiron Building and the corner of Fifth Avenue. 

The novelty of seeing a famous yellow New York taxi on a screen while a Dublin bus pulls up to the curb 50 feet away will never get old.

The Irish Times reported a marriage proposal taking place at the Portal shortly after it opened, one viral video showed someone bringing a cardboard cutout of chart-topper Hozier to the portal and we witnessed a transatlantic version of the YMCA take place when we paid it a visit.

The project has gained international attention since being unveiled in early May, but the issue has run into some teething problems.

Despite there being no sound, that hasn’t prevented people from attempting to poke holes in the project,

Liveline on RTÉ reported Dubliners were displaying images of 9/11 to the New York side, while another viral video showed someone from the New York side flashing their breasts to the crowd on the Dublin end.

During our visit to the Portal on the evening of May 14th, (shortly before it was announced that the Portal would be temporarily taken offline that night to address anti-social behaviour) novelty was the prevailing sentiment.

The New York side of the Portal had a barrier erected (one suspects that Dublin won’t be far behind) but there was a sense that the people present at the Portal were there for the novelty factor.

A steady crowd of roughly 40 people were present on two separate visits to the Portal, and during both visits, there was a persistent feeling of wonder and discovery.

Maggie, a local resident said, “this is the best thing to happen to the city for years; why didn’t they think of this before now?”

On the New York end, a bald man who looked like the long-lost brother of Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, entertained the Dublin faithful with an interpretive 20-minute dance that owed a lot to the stylings of late Prodigy frontman Keith Flint. 

A sea of phones were present at the Portal, with people face-timing friends and family so they could get a glimpse of the action.

Joao, an office worker, said he was face-timing his sister back in Brazil after she heard about the Portal online.

“I wish we had something like this back in Manaus,” he said.

The project is the brainchild of Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, with the first Portal connecting Lithuanian capital Vilnius and Polish city of Lublin in 2021.

Announcing the project back in March, Gylys, said “Portals aim to be a bridge to a united planet.”

“I am grateful to the cities of Dublin and New York for pioneering innovation and welcoming their Portal sculptures, which is a significant milestone after years of work. From the initial two cities of Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland, Portals are now expanding to be a global network. This is just the beginning and our team will continue bringing Portals to large cities and little towns of planet Earth.”

Gylys’ vision of a world connected by Portals seemed to come to fruition during our visit to the site, which is situated just beside the Spire on O’Connell Street, and it is easy to just stand there all day and people watch.

When you gaze into the Portal with its webcam-quality view of New York squished into what looks like a Polo mint on its side, you forget about the world’s troubles.

In tumultuous times of war and economic strife, it is refreshing to just people watch and marvel at this leap in technology that was once contained within the realms of science fiction.

Suddenly, on the other end of the Portal, a man in a Kerry GAA jersey kisses the badge and someone plugs their rap mixtape by holding up a cardboard box.

A New Yorker gives the middle finger to the camera and while there is no audio, it is not hard to discern what they are trying to convey.

The Dublin side hit back with a sign reading “sucks not having free healthcare!”. 

The Portal has the potential to either improve American-Irish relations or create a new Cold War of escalating passive-aggressiveness.