Portal sculptures are spreading around the world: two new cities are connected – MadeinVilnius.lt

The idea of ​​connecting Vilnius and Lublin from Lithuania with futuristic Portal sculptures is spreading around the world. On Wednesday, Dublin and New York together ceremonially activated their portals, which will connect with the first Portals in Vilnius and Lublin already in the summer. This event marks a new stage of the project conceived by investor and artist Benediktas Gylis and will be a step towards the creation of a network of Portal sculptures that crosses national borders and connects people from different countries.

It carries a message of unity

The new Portals are historically and culturally located in one of the most important places in big cities. The Dublin Portal is located on one of the city’s main streets, next to one of Ireland’s symbols – The Spire of Dublin. From here, anyone can wave to New Yorkers and visitors to Manhattan near the iconic historic Flatiron skyscraper. The latter also have the same opportunity thanks to the Portal installed here.

The cities are connected 24 hours a day, seven days a week with live video from both locations. He, despite more than 5 thousand km distance and 5 hours difference, brings the residents of both cities together and provides an opportunity to meet and get to know people from different countries.

In just a few hours after the opening, hundreds of posts about the new Portals received tens of millions of views on social networks.

“The idea of ​​portals was born from the desire to create a space for the people of the world to meet above national borders, beliefs, words and differences and to get to know the inhabitants of the planet, who are far from our social bubbles and social networks. The fact that this idea has attracted such great interest and has infected some of the biggest cities in Europe and North America is proof that the message carried by Portals is universal and relevant in today’s world,” says B. Gylys, the creator of the idea.

The goal is a worldwide network of Portals

With the portal sculptures appearing in Dublin and New York this summer, it is planned to start a new phase of the project’s life – to connect the Portals of all four cities into a common network, which new cities, towns or areas of the world can become a part of. B. Gylys dreams that someday such a network of Portals will connect all countries of the world. Instead of two-way virtual bridges between two cities, the networked Portals will take those near them to ever new places. Therefore, the sculpture located in Vilnius, near the railway station, will become a window not only to Lublin, but also to Dublin and New York, and later to other cities.

When the Benediktas Gylis support fund donated the first portals to Vilnius and Lublin, the news about them, according to the Go Vilnius agency, reached 700 million in the first week alone. human audience. In total, more than 1.5 billion people learned about the unique project. people all over the world. A copy of the portal created especially for this occasion and donated by the foundation was the main exhibit of the Lithuanian pavilion at the international exhibition “Expo 2020” in Dubai. The resulting response became not only a great advertisement for Vilnius and the whole of Lithuania, but also a basis for further development of the project and new partnerships.

The idea received international support

The unique sculptures and the message they carry did not go unnoticed in New York either – a message about a possible collaboration was received from the Simons Foundation, one of the richest people in the world, founded by one of the richest people in the world, just a month after the Portals in Vilnius and Lublin were activated.

“We are excited to present the first Portal in North America in one of New York’s most dynamic spaces – the Flatiron Public Plaza.” This real-time merger of two iconic public spaces in global cities on both sides of the Atlantic will bring people together and become a destination for New Yorkers and visitors to the city,” said James Mettham, president of the Flatiron NoMad Partnership.

In Dublin, the municipality of this city took care of the implementation of the project. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ireland expressed interest in the Portals project as early as 2022. at the end and then handed over its coordination to the Dublin Smart City team. A year ago, she visited Vilnius and coordinated the details of the project with the Lithuanians.

“One of my main goals as mayor is to make Dublin more inclusive. Portals embody this goal by combining technology, engineering, and art to bring communities together from around the world, and allow people to meet outside of their cultural and social circle. We are extremely excited to connect with New York, a city with which we share a deep historical and cultural connection. In July, the Dublin Portal will also connect with other global locations in Poland, Brazil and Lithuania. I invite Dublin residents and visitors to the city to visit and experience the Portal and share Irish hospitality with cities around the world. This project is one of the great examples of Dublin as the EU Smart Tourism Capital 2024 program,” says Dublin Mayor Daithí de Róiste, who attended the opening of the Portal.

Changed the portal production process

Installed in four cities around the world, the Portals are unique technological art sculptures designed to encourage civic and creative dialogue. It connects pairs of cities with continuous live video broadcasts.

in Vilnius and Lublin from 2021. Portals operating in May are created as monolithic concrete sculptures. Each of them is 3.4 m high and weighs 11 tons. These sculptures were created in cooperation with the Linkmenų fabrik team of Vilnius TECH University. The Dublin and New York Portals are visually identical to the ones in Vilnius and Lublin, but in order to simplify their production, transportation and installation, they are made of individual concrete modules, as well as stainless steel structures and tempered glass, and weigh significantly less – 3.2 tons. LED screens, cameras, special computer and software were used for the sculptures. The new Portals are made in Germany.

The first Portals in Vilnius and Lublin were largely financed by the personal funds of Benediktas Gylis. 20 percent the funds were allocated by Vilnius city municipality. The Dublin and New York Portals were funded by project partners in these cities – Simons Foundation and Flatiron NoMad Partnership organizations in New York and Dublin City Council.