It took less than a week for people eager to share their ‘assets’ with the world to shut down the visual portals set up between the cities of Dublin and New York on 8 May. Although the project was aimed at bringing people together and connecting cultures, a few visitors to the locations have decided to take the invitation of getting to know others to a whole other level.
“In New York, we have had a set of protocols in place since the Portal’s launch, including 24/7 on-site security and barriers to prevent people from stepping onto the Portal”, the Flatiron NoMad Partnership, one of the project’s organizers in New York, said in a statement.
The security however has proven insufficient to stop inappropriate behaviour. Ava Louise, an OnlyFans model, shared a video on her Tik Tok account in which she proudly says she caused the portal to shut down. In her video, Louise explains her boyfriend was asking questions to the security guard present at the New York location, on the Flatiron South Public Plaza, to distract him while she lifted her shirt for the people in Dublin to see her “two New York homegrown potatoes”.
In another video shared on social media, a woman was filmed grinding against the installation. “Basically she was there for about 20 minutes, very drunk, and was slapping and grinding against the portal before guards stepped in”, said the person behind the camera. In a darker case, a man has been seen showing videos of the Twin Towers burning down on 9/11 on his phone.
Following the incidents, the Dublin City Council shut off the portal at 10 pm, local time, on Tuesday, 14 May. “Dublin City Council had hoped to have a solution in place today, but unfortunately the preferred solution, which would have involved blurring, was not satisfactory”, the City Council said.
The portal in New York was also shut off on Tuesday, at 5 pm local time. Both installations will remain switched off for several days while the organisers on both sides of the pond and the company who built the portals work on “additional solutions to limit such behaviour appearing on the livestream”.
Despite the temporary shutdown, the Dublin City Council said “the overwhelming majority of people interacting with the Dublin Portal have behaved appropriately” and they are “delighted by how many people have been enjoying the Portal since it was launched”.
Launched as part of the city’s 2024 EU Capital of Smart Tourism Designation, Dublin’s Mayor, Daithí de Róiste, expects to install more portals in the future, connecting to destinations in Poland, Brazil and Lithuania.
