Ashley Mastronardi

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May 8, 2024, 5:42 PM

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Updated

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New York say hi to Dublin – Dublin say hi to New York.

“You’re going to be on TV!”

Tourist Anne-Marie Dooney is saying hi to her daughter, Alison, 3,000 miles away.

“It’s exciting, it’s unbelievable,” Dooney told News 12 New York.

It’s all thanks to the Portal – it’s an installation on 23rd and Broadway that uses livestream video to connect the cities via large screens. “Together they connect with each other and invite us humans of planet Earth to meet face to face, heart to heart, above all borders, all disagreements and all labels,” Portal founder Benediktas Gylys told News 12 New York.

The mayor’s public realm officer, Ya-Ting Liu, says public spaces like this are crucial for the city.

“Public spaces attract workers, residents and tourists to come and again celebrate the city. And as you can see here today, this is what this art installation and what wonderful plazas like we have in Flatiron is creating,” Liu told News 12 New York.

Right now, the Portal is only connected with Dublin, but organizers say they hope to connect it with Poland and Lithuania this summer.