The Dublin portal, established with the original connection to New York City, now expands to include Vilnius in Lithuania and Lublin in Poland, according to an announcement from Dublin City Council. The live streams situated on North Earl Street will periodically switch between these cities, offering views of each for 180 seconds from 1pm Irish time on Monday.
This innovative portal concept was first introduced in Lithuania in 2021, linking the cities of Vilnius and Lublin. At the time, it connected pairs of cities, namely, New York City and Dublin as well as Vilnius and Lublin. With this latest expansion, the project moves towards its goal of creating global artwork, enabling inhabitants of multiple nations to interact in a sense of unity.
Since its unveiling in May, the Dublin portal has welcomed over 340,000 visitors, revitalising North Earl Street, as stated by Lord Mayor James Geoghegan. He expressed his pleasure at seeing the portal network extend to Vilnius and Lublin, and remains excited to see more individuals benefit from the portal experience.
The Vilnius portal is strategically located near the city’s main station, while the one in Lublin sits in the central city Litewski Square. Garnering substantial global media coverage, the portals have yielded billions of online impressions and have seen an average weekly footfall of 25,000 in Dublin alone. In New York City, specifically the Flatiron South Plaza, foot traffic observed a 47 per cent increase over the monthly average for 2023.
Reflecting on the impact of the portals, Aušrinė Armonaitė, the Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovation, highlighted how the shared network facilitated by the portals draws people from various backgrounds and cultures together, reinforcing our shared similarities.
Creator and craftsman Benediktas Gylys stated that it had always been their goal to establish numerous gateways and it took them “eight long years to reach this momentous day. We express our deep gratitude for the unwavering assistance we’ve received from our associates in Dublin, New York City, Vilnius, and Lublin. These four existing portals serve as the bedrock for a network which will undergo expansion later this year.”
The network operates every day from 1pm to 8pm in Dublin, 8am to 3pm in New York City, 2pm to 9pm in Lublin, and 3pm to 10pm in Vilnius. The network will welcome additional portal sites later this year.