Dublin-NY Portal: ‘Death notice’ and flowers for controversial artwork

The well known ‘Dublin humour’ has taken centre stage at the on-off interactive Portal in the city centre.

Only this time, it’s black humour – “RIP THE PORTAL”

Incidents, which have been shared extensively across social media platforms, involved users “mooning”, displaying swearwords, and flashing various body parts.

One Dublin user displayed a video of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

On Thursday, flowers and a sombre message were placed at the site.

While an official message reads “Portal is asleep – back up soon”, another message has been placed underneath by an unknown person.

Printed on a white sheet of paper, it says in capital letters: “RIP THE PORTAL 8-14th May 2024”.

It concludes: “Sorry we mooned you”.

A few bunches of flowers have been placed at the bottom of the Portal.

In recent days, some Dublin people unofficially renamed the installation ‘The Portal-oo’ in response to the anti-social behaviour which made headlines around the world.

The livestream in the Irish capital, while it was operating, allowed people there and in New York to see each other and to interact through signals and gestures.

Dublin City Council says it hopes the Portal can be switched back on within the next few days once the operators find a way to curb unruly behaviour being transmitted to viewers in New York.

The anti-social behaviour has been widely condemned by Dubliners and tourists visiting the city.