Last week, a “portal” was opened between New York, USA, and Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Before even a week was up, the portal had to be closed again temporarily due to “inappropriate behavior” on the Dublin side.
The idea behind the portals, a creation by Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, is pretty neat. Both cities – and potentially further cities in the future – livestream footage of their location to each other via a large circular screen.
“Portals are an invitation to meet people above borders and differences and to experience our world as it really is – united and one,” Gylys explained in a statement. “The livestream provides a window between distant locations, allowing people to meet outside of their social circles and cultures, transcend geographical boundaries, and embrace the beauty of global interconnectedness.”
“I would encourage Dubliners and visitors to the city to come and interact with the sculpture,” Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí De Róiste added, “and extend an Irish welcome and kindness to cities all over the world.”
The portal was greeted with enthusiasm by many in both cities, with performances planned over the upcoming months on both sides of the livestream.
But, of course, not everyone can be trusted with a camera pointed in their direction. Soon after the portal began streaming, videos of inappropriate behavior began circulating online. These include people in Dublin holding up images of the 9/11 attacks to the camera, swear words and other inappropriate images displayed on phone screens, and people mooning at New York.
The portal was soon shut down temporarily, while Dublin City Council looked into “technical solutions” to the problem.
According to the council, the portal was shut down due to “inappropriate behavior” by “a very small minority of people”.
“While we cannot control all of these actions, we are implementing some technical solutions to address this and these will go live in the next 24 hours,” the council said in a statement seen by BBC News.
“We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days with our partners in New York to ensure that portals continue to deliver a positive experience for both cities and the world.”
The technological solution, RTÉ reports, will involve blocking images held up to the portal’s cameras from being displayed at the other end.
While it might not end inappropriate behavior, it might at least up the difficulty level.
