Public Art Portal Intended to Dismantle Argument For Borders Needs a Border to Protect It
The Portal, a public art installation intended to demonstrate how borders hinder human affinity and connectivity, now needs a border and 24/7 security to protect it from undesirables.
Oh, the irony.
The continuous live video feed, which allows Dubliners and New Yorkers to see each other and interact, has been beset with a deluge of anti-social behavior, including people flashing their private parts and engaging in other lewd, drunken and offensive behavior.
That wasn't the intention of the artist behind the project, with Lithuanian Benediktas Gylys asserting that, “Portals are an invitation to meet people above borders and differences and to experience our world as it really is – united and one.”
“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,” he added.
'Embracing the beauty of global interconnectedness' ended up with OnlyFans thots flashing their breasts, people flipping each other off, screaming drunken insults and displaying images of the twin towers on fire.
The spate of vulgar behavior led to the project being temporarily closed down in both Dublin and New York.
More hilarious was the fact that the installation subsequently had to be fenced off with a literal border to keep out bad actors and patrolled by police and security around the clock.
“We're implementing a physical process with barriers to prevent people getting too close to the portal – that's number one,” said Joseph Callahan, director of Portals Organisation.
A new AI function that anticipates offensive behavior and images will also be installed in an attempt to censor problematic content.
Gylys responded to developments by calling on visitors to behave in a “family friendly” fashion.
“I think everyone should think of a seven-year-old child that is in New York that wants to experience and that wants to connect to Dublin and wave to people there,” Mr Gylys told Irish broadcaster RTÉ.
A message currently being displayed on a blank screen reads, “Portal is asleep – back up soon,” with authorities suggesting it may return next week.
The installation is supposed to last until the end of the summer, an unlikely ambition given what has unfolded in just the first week of it going public.
The organizers' best hope is probably that the public just gets bored of it, because the alternative scenario is just people trying to one up each other by performing increasingly tasteless stunts in order to achieve free social media clout.
Maybe this is why we need borders.
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