Celebrating Five Years of Portals: Connecting the World One Conversation at a Time

03 Jun 2026
Two people stand in front of a city portal running Video Window, gesturing towards an animated scene displayed inside it. Colorful lights and signage are visible in the background, creating a lively atmosphere.

This year marks a major milestone for Portals as the global public artwork celebrates five years of creating meaningful human connections across borders, cultures, and continents.

What began in 2021 with the opening of the first Portal between Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland has evolved into a worldwide network of seven Portal locations, allowing millions of people to experience spontaneous, real-time interactions with individuals thousands of kilometers away.

Over the past five years, Portals has hosted countless memorable moments, including cultural celebrations, educational exchanges, live performances, community events, holiday activations, and global awareness campaigns. Each connection has reinforced the project’s mission of bringing humanity closer together through shared experiences.

Five Years of Milestones

2021

  • The first Portal opens between Vilnius and Lublin, introducing a new form of public connection.

2024

  • Portals expands internationally with the opening of Dublin and New York.
  • The network begins connecting multiple cities, creating a truly global experience.

2024–2025

  • Philadelphia joins the network.
  • Major public events, performances, educational collaborations, and cultural celebrations take place across Portal locations.

2025

  • Ipswich becomes the latest European city to join the growing network.

2026

  • Portals expands into Asia with Manila, Philippines.
  • The network reaches South America with the opening of the Brazil Portal.
  • The global Portals network reaches seven active locations spanning Europe, North America, Asia, and South America.

As a technology partner supporting the Portals initiative, Video Window is proud to have played a role in helping bring these extraordinary connections to life. Seeing people from opposite sides of the world share a smile, wave, celebrate, and communicate in real time perfectly reflects our own vision of making distance disappear through always-on visual communication.

Congratulations to the entire Portals team, partners, cities, and communities that have helped make the past five years possible. We look forward to seeing where the next Portal opens and how many more connections will be created in the years ahead.

Five years. Seven Portals. Millions of connections. One shared world.