What to expect when you visit Asia's first Portal in BGC
There's a new installation to visit in BGC!
Asia's first-ever Portal opened along 5th Ave. in the business district on Jan. 21, connecting Manila to five other countries with the immersive art piece.
The other existing Portals are located in Vilnius, Lithuania; Lublin, Poland; Philadelphia, United Statesl and Ipswich, United Kingdom.
"This was our dream to have the first portal in Asia and to have it in Manila. It's more than what I could have dreamt of," Portals Organization founder Benediktas Gylys told PhilSTAR L!fe.
He added that after Manila, the company is putting up its next portal in Piaui, Brazil. "After, we will announce another Portal in Asia very soon as well."
Planning on dropping by? Here's what to expect when you visit the Portal in BGC.
@philstarlife Asia's first Portal is now open in BGC! Drop by along 5th Ave. to see the immersive installation. #Portal #BGC #PhilStarLife ♬ original sound - philstarlife
A livestream feed. The video you'll see on the Portal is a 24/7 stream from different parts of the world. You can wave hello to the people in other countries in real time. In certain hours, though, there may be no people at all. For instance, during the launch attended by L!fe, there were no people in Philadelphia because it was 5 a.m. in the American state.
The stream switches every three minutes. Since there are five other cities with Portals, the feed changes after a few minutes to show you different parts of the world. Make sure to stay tuned to view all the locations.
There'll only be one Portal per country. And for the Philippines, it's in BGC. Bonifacio Global City Marketing Manager TJ Cuenca told reporters that the Portal will stay in the central business district for a year.
It's a place to connect with people from other nations. During the launch, people from Ireland and other countries welcomed Pinoys to the Portal connection. They brought along banners to say hello—there's no audio feed for Portal, but you can bring a sign to send your message across countries.
Gylys told L!fe that there are "hundreds of stories" of connections made through the Portals.
"We see marriage proposals happening. We see people meet through the Portal, and after just travel to a country that is thousands of kilometers away to meet people that they met through the Portal," he shared.
"So it's a space for meeting people whom we would otherwise never meet during our lifetimes. It's one shared moment in time with someone who is as human as you are."
