If I was to envisage installing a live video stream between Dublin and, well anywhere, the first, THE FIRST problem that would cross my mind is the potential for it turning into an ‘arse-exhibition’.
I am of course referring to the Dublin – New York ‘portal’ which creators Portals say are “technology art sculptures” that provide “a real-time, unfiltered livestream 24/7,” with the aim of being a bridge to “a united planet”.
That is until the lethal combinations of human nature and ‘the craic’ butts in (literally).
Afterall, the craic is the craic and it does what it likes. Perhaps Helen McEntee can fix it by making mooning a hate crime or one of the Gardaí’s ever confusing ‘non-crime hate incidents’.
they opened a portal between dublin and new york and I just know it will be shut down before its one month anniversary lol pic.twitter.com/4MsGV7mSr8
— em (@shinywiglett) May 9, 2024
Showing a pair to the Big Apple.
While ‘arses’ appear frequently in fine art (here are a few famous examples) I highly doubt the ‘artists’ behind the Dublin-New York bum blaster intended it to be what it has become.
A portal connecting New York and Dublin in real time pic.twitter.com/JeBr5M801p
— Interesting STEM (@InterestingSTEM) May 12, 2024
The woman in the video above was taken away from the screen by Gardaí after allegedly ‘grinding’ on it.
Of course not all of the mischief has come from the Irish side, but from what I’ve seen something about the auld portal has unleashed a wave of fecklessness that is something to behold.
Indeed, Irish folks having the craic with the ‘portal’ seems to be going viral internationally as my best friend who lives in South Korea sent me a video of a lad holding his phone up to the screen to lovingly project the word ‘wankers’ at onlookers in the city that never sleeps.
Some slightly more scandalous transmissions included a young man in Dublin appearing to snort ‘something’ in front of the portal as well as someone holding up an image of the ill fated Twin Towers with black smoke billowing out of them.
New Yorkers mocked for 9-11 by the Irish via the portal. ‼️ pic.twitter.com/smVeZVJLEP
— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) May 11, 2024
In another incident which for reasons of decency I did not include, an image with The Spire in the background shows someone in Dublin projecting pornography from their phone at night.
They're as bad as us #Dublin #Portal pic.twitter.com/ALE6WGfqNC
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley_) May 11, 2024
The New York Post, labelling those messing with the portal as “Guinness-glugging” patrons of a “pub lined” thoroughfare lamented that 30-year-old Matt Shaver had his photo opportunity ruined by an “imbecile” who it said kept flashing images of a Swastika while he was trying to take a photo with his sister who lives in Dublin on the other side of the portal.
That was probably annoying for Shaver, but when you install something in public you get what you get.
As you might expect it seems the naughty stuff is getting the most attention online, but there were sweet and wholesome moments as well like this girl showing off some Irish dancing which prompted an onlooker in New York to attempt to follow her steps.
Everyone saw someone who probably wasn’t Irish trolling nyc with the pictures of the towers through the portal yesterday but you didn’t see this pic.twitter.com/IJKMdWWQX4
— Washingtons ghost (@hartgoat) May 12, 2024
More less traditional dance moves were also put on display including a rendition of a famous TikTok dance.
Who’s idea was it to have a portal from Dublin to New York I’m actually in bits pic.twitter.com/l91SlosDN3
— Mel (@melsanobrain) May 8, 2024
Modern art is a term that usually gives this writer the ick. At its worst I picture paint haphazardly lashed across canvases or feminist dance breakdowns where unhinged looking ladies scream or twist their bodies incoherently to stand up to the patriarchy or whatever.
Amidst a landscape of ‘art’ which often receives reviews that sound like a disingenuous word salad that needs to be no less than 200 – 300 words so the critic can keep their job, perhaps a drunken lad bareing his bottom on North Earl Street is art.