Dublin censors video ‘portal’ with New York after ‘bad behaviour’

Dublin city council has been forced to censor a new video “portal” with New York after members of the public mooned the screen and held up pornography.

Last week, the two cities announced that a new screen, housed on a futuristic circular stand, would run a 24-hour live stream between Dublin’s O’Connell Street and the Flatiron District of New York.

But the “groundbreaking public technology”, which was designed to allow people to “freely meet each other” from across the world, is expected to include partial censorship after accusations of bad behaviour by passers-by from both sides of the Atlantic.

Videos that went viral on social media showed members of the public holding up pornography to the portal’s camera, beaming it across to a large screen on the other side.

One member of the public in Dublin held up a photograph of the Twin Towers burning on 9/11, while an OnlyFans model in New York was reprimanded for flashing her breasts at the screen.

Dublin city council said on Monday that the portal had been temporarily closed while designers worked on “technical solutions” to stop the public abusing it.

After the changes, images that are held up to the portal’s camera on a mobile phone screen will not be visible at the other end, according to RTE, an Irish broadcaster.

“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 council said in a statement.

Nicolas Klaus, head of partnerships at The Portals Organization, told The Telegraph he wanted to find a “balance” that would allow people to “freely meet one another” without inappropriate behaviour.

“However, there are some activities that need to be addressed like people getting very up-close to the camera. We have some ideas on that,” he said.

Some activities – like dog walkers showing each other their pets and couples getting engaged – will be encouraged, but mooning, flashing and depictions of terrorism will not.

‘New York home grown potatoes’

Ava Louise, the OnlyFans and TikTok star who said she had flashed her breasts across the 3,000-mile video link, said she had intended to show the Irish public her “two New York home grown potatoes”.

Her boyfriend, another OnlyFans model, is understood to have distracted security guards to allow her to perform the stunt on Sunday.

On the Irish side of the portal, which does not have security, men could be seen pretending to take drugs and showing their backsides to its camera.

The team at Portals is understood to be working on improvements to the software for “better stability and to prepare for Portals to expand to more locations on Earth”, according to Dublin city council.

Adding: “Those works are being done mostly at night and during those hours, the livestream might be paused. This will deliver a better experience for all participants and some surprises to keep the artwork engaging”.

Conceived by Benediktas Gylys, a Lithuanian artist and entrepreneur, the New York City-Dublin Portal became the third and fourth art installation of its kind when they opened earlier this month.

The first two Portals were launched in May 2021, connecting the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and the Polish city of Lublin.

According to the Portals website, an announcement is coming “soon” in regards to the location of the next installation.

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