PORTAL statues have been erected in the city centres of Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland, allowing residents of each to see each other in real time.
Installed on May 26th outside of the Vilnius Train Station and Lublin’s Central Square, the project was created by GoVilnius, the development agency of the Lithuanian capital.
According to its organizers, the PORTAL is supposed to serve as a visual bridge and new wave community accelerator that brings people of different cultures together and encourages them to rethink the meaning of unity.
“Humanity is facing many potentially deadly challenges; be it social polarisation, climate change or economic issues. However, if we look closely, it’s not a lack of brilliant scientists, activists, leaders, knowledge or technology causing these challenges. It’s tribalism, a lack of empathy and a narrow perception of the world, which is often limited to our national borders,” says Benediktas Gylys, President of the Benediktas Gylys Foundation and initiator of the PORTAL idea. “That’s why we’ve decided to bring the PORTAL idea to life – it’s a bridge that unifies and an invitation to rise above prejudices and disagreements that belong to the past. It’s an invitation to rise above the us and them illusion.
The organizers plan to further connect the world using dozens of PORTALS across Europe and around the world in the near future. The website says the next PORTALS planned are in Reykjavik and London. The aim is to engage communities and encourage a public movement to embrace social experiments, unexpected reactions, as well as the unity of different cultures and their people in the long-run.
For more info, check out the official website.
