Video art brings out the best, and worst, of New York and Dublin

Rain sluiced down on a grey Dublin afternoon yesterday, but the crowd clustered around the portal ignored the downpour and waved at a man cycling towards the screen on a sunny morning in Manhattan.

- Rory Carroll

He gazed back, waved and wobbled before recovering his balance and vanishing down Fifth Avenue, eliciting a cheer from the sodden observers on North Earl Street.

It was day five of a livestream that has connected Ireland's capital with New York via an interactive sculpture and webcam that allows people to see, but not hear, each other.

Seconds after the cyclist left, a woman appeared walking her dog. She stopped, stared at the screen and grinned. She picked up her dog and waved his paw. The crowd in Dublin, huddled under umbrellas, gave another cheer. "I wish I'd brought my dog," said Amy Ferguson, 24.

The fleeting, playful interactions between people separated by 3,000 miles and five time zones exemplified the hope of authorities when the art installation launched last Wednesday.

"Two amazing global cities connected in real time and space," said New York's chief public realm officer, Ya-Ting Liu.