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For once, the biggest tourist attraction at Philadelphia’s Love Park isn’t the famous artwork that gave the square its name. While two tourists flock to take pictures with… Sculpture loveThe main attraction this week is the gate, which was surrounded by a crowd of about 50 spectators when it debuted on Tuesday.
The portal, which stands approximately 12 feet tall and weighs 3.5 tons, is an always-on live video feed located in a futuristic, industrial-style circuit, connecting two cities from around the world. A project of Lithuanian businessman Benediktas Gylys, the portal made international headlines this summer when someone at the New York City portal highlighted the city of Dublin, Ireland. The portal was temporarily closed and then moved by September.
when Portals The project announced that its latest installation would be coming to Philadelphia, raising concerns among local residents. This is a city that has to paint light poles when its sports teams are in the playoffs so people don’t climb them; The city that was created braveA messy orange trash monster as the official mascot of the NHL Philadelphia Flyers, Philly Phanatic, Most sued Mascot in sports. A city where someone Posting a lost craigslist connection To make sure you know they’ve given you the finger to drive the Cybertruck. If downtown Manhattan is too outrageous for the gate, what are the once-famous Philadelphians going to do? Throw snowballs at Santa Claus – They raised their sleeves?
Before the portal could be activated, the screen broke, but it was not an act of sabotage. It was Installation error – False start. However, when it finally opened, the environment around the gate on its first day was eerily healthy. Probably very healthy. I was at the gate when a nearby high school let out for the day, and even these teens didn’t create any noise (although some of them insisted on using Love Park to do their bike tricks – which is dangerous – but maybe we can) Pin this on Tony Hawk because there’s a cycle Love Park in the “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” games. While standing around the installation for about 30 minutes, only one person crossed the line when he gave the finger to a man in Dublin.
The portal itself is like a vibrant Internet. You can instantly connect with people from all over the world, as well as strangers in your city, but this also means that it reflects some of the worst aspects of our online lives. A few spoilers can ruin the experience for everyone, but unlike the Internet, people are more effective at soothing themselves in person. The man who put his middle finger on the gate was booed by the crowd and left. When people violate social norms online, it’s much easier for them to lurk undetected, wreaking havoc in the shadows.
Gilis, the entrepreneur who created the portals, started the project after realizing that his success in the startup scene in Lithuania made him feel unfulfilled in his life.
“After developing several online projects, I had symbols of success to show and a painful lack of meaning to hide,” Gillis said books. “Finally, surrender and honest admission that I knew nothing about reality led me to a mystical experience where I felt alone with all life on Earth for two weeks.”
Questionable “mystery experiment” aside, Gillis’s goal is clear and straightforward: he wants to help people connect with each other, and to help us realize that we are not as different as we seem.
Gylys’ background in working on consumer applications in Lithuania is useful because it is a technological feat in itself that a gateway can operate. The core software is designed by Video windowwhich uses the same always-playing video feeds for its main product, is much less glamorous: it connects remote workers so they feel like they’re in the office (or maybe they just feel monitored).
Not only is Video Window responsible for making sure video streams play without technical issues, but the company also has to make sure the portals are not hacked. On the portal, everything was running smoothly – the video feed would switch every few minutes, showing scenes from Ireland, Poland and Lithuania without any technical strain.
At around 3pm in Philadelphia, these European portals showed us people returning home after a long day at work or a night out. In Dublin, some passers-by were stopping with beer bottles in their hands, dancing in front of the camera. An older man pretended to do a striptease, but thankfully kept things PG and only took off his jacket. Meanwhile, in Lithuania, where it was snowing at 10 p.m., no one wanted to stop and say hello. When the portal turned from Ireland to Lithuania, everyone groaned, as we briefly lost our source of entertainment. (I’m sure Vilnius residents are friendlier when they’re not coming home in the cold.)
You can see through the portal, but you cannot hear, so we communicate through gestures. Modernity must have already worn off outside – these portals have been around for a while A few yearsalthough adding a new city to the mix might have made it more fun. One guy in Poland timidly showed us some dance moves, and our crowd of excited Philadelphians, experiencing the portal for the first time, were imitating them again. For this guy, it must be like looking in the mirror, except the mirror has fifty people in it who are weirdly excited because you’ve stopped waving.
There is a fundamental tension between Gillis’ goal and what he actually achieves. Gillis wants this to bring us together, but the portal doesn’t necessarily lead to new friendships. As I waved to strangers in Ireland, Lithuania and Poland, I was reminded of how we are not so different, just as Gillis wanted. But I also thought about how little we know about these people — what if the Polish dancer had terrible political views? What if the guy who made me laugh with his PG nudity actually ran an underground illegal gambling ring?
Philadelphia has no obvious conflict with these three countries, but what would happen if the United States and Ireland suddenly ended up in some kind of heated international conflict? Will we all be eager to wave hello across the Atlantic, or will the gateway ultimately make it easier to express international rivalry and disagreement? Some people in the portal joked that all hell would break loose if we took a look at Dallas, Texas, home of the Cowboys, our biggest football rivals. (The next day, a person appeared carrying a sign reading… “Dallas sucks.”)
A day later, it appears that the gateway is still working fine. Fili Elmo – a man dressed as Elmo who shows up at random events in the city with a drum line – stops by for the evening, introducing confused Lithuanians to his antics. One man in Dublin wore it Philadelphia Eagles shirtWhich prompted the audience on the other side of the gate to cheer.
Just as the portal reflects another city, it also reflects ourselves. While some people are intent on using this technology to be rude, most visitors are happy to enjoy a short moment of connection with a complete stranger on the other side of the pond. Maybe humans aren’t so bad after all, unless they’re Cowboys fans.
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