Dublin-NYC Portal reopens with limited opening hours

The "Portal" linking Dublin and New York City reopened on Sunday afternoon, May 19, after being temporarily shut down due to "inappropriate behavior" earlier in the week. 

The art installation, which allows for real-time interactions between Dubliners and New Yorkers, will now operate under set hours after previously being open 24 hours a day. 

The live stream will now run daily from 11 am until 9 pm in Dublin and 6 am to 4 pm in New York. 

Additionally, the New York site will have on-site security during all hours of operation, while fencing has also been installed in front of the New York location. 

Dublin City Council said in a statement that the portals are not meant to be touched or stepped on. 

"We have taken steps to limit instances of people stepping on the Portal and holding phones up to the camera lens," Dublin City Council said. 

"The Portals.org team has implemented a proximity-based solution. Now, if individuals step on the Portal and obstruct the camera, it will trigger a blurring of the livestream for everyone on both sides of the Atlantic." 

The council noted that tens of thousands of people have visited the Portal in both Dublin and New York and that the "overwhelming majority" of people who have visited the sites have "experienced the sense of joy and connectedness that these works of public art invite people to have."

The portal linking Dublin and New York City opened on May 8, with Dublin's portal located near the Spire on O'Connell Street and the New York portal located in Flatiron South Public Plaza on 23 Street. 

Benediktas Gylys, the Lithuanian artist and entrepreneur behind the art installations, made a recent appeal to visitors to remember that children could be watching on the other side. 

A number of incidents went viral before the Portal was temporarily shut down, including one incident that saw a member of the public in Dublin place an image of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on display for New Yorkers. Members of the public have also shared graphic and explicit images at the new art installation.