new york –The Portal art installation in New York City has been temporarily closed.
This sculpture, located in the square next to the Flatiron Building, is the same as the one on the streets of Dublin, Ireland. The installation will allow New Yorkers and Dubliners to see and connect with each other in real-time through a livestream video feed.
The New York installation opened to the public on May 8 and attracted tens of thousands of visitors in its first week.
Why was “The Portal” shut down in New York City?
Since The Portal opened, videos of people flashing their screens and holding up disturbing images have circulated online, claiming the perpetrators are in both New York and Dublin.
A spokesperson for the Flatiron Nomad Partnership said in a statement Tuesday that “the inappropriate behavior was committed by a small number of portal visitors and was amplified on social media.”
A spokesperson said the egregious behavior occurred despite 24/7 on-site security and fencing in place at the New York facility since its launch.
As a result, “The Portal” was suspended on Tuesdays at 5 p.m.
How long will New York's “The Portal” be closed?
According to the partnership, both the New York and Dublin teams are working to come up with a solution to prevent inappropriate behavior from appearing on livestreams, and the New York “portal” is expected to be reopened by the end of this week. That's what it means.
People who visited the installation on Tuesday told CBS New York that they expect visitors to behave appropriately once the livestream resumes.
New Yorker Stanley Velasco said: “Keep calm and cool so we can carry this stuff around and it's really great.”
“Everyone says this is a problem in New York, but it's everywhere in the world. So it doesn't matter which city you put the problem in, there's no doubt that some kind of idiot is stupid …It's a universal language,'' said Irish-American Christopher Collins.
“While the Portal was down, I would ask everyone to take a hard look at why it had to be shut down for a while. I also hope that once the Portal is back up, people will use it for what it was designed to do. I hope so,” New said. Yorker Gillian Mulder said:
“The overwhelming majority of visitors to the portal behave appropriately and experience the sense of joy and connection that this work of public art brings to people,” the partnership said in a statement.
“The Portal” is scheduled to remain at Flatiron Plaza until fall 2024.
