A new immersive art installation has landed in Bonifacio Global City, and it’s turning everyday strolls into global encounters. Asia’s first-ever Portal officially opened along 5th Avenue on January 21, allowing people in Manila to see and wave at strangers from different parts of the world in real time.
The Manila Portal connects to similar installations in Vilnius, Lublin, Philadelphia, and Ipswich, making it a shared digital window across continents. For the first time, Asia joins this growing global network of Portals.
Portal to the World
At the center of the installation is a circular screen streaming live video 24/7 from different Portal locations worldwide. The feed switches every three minutes, giving visitors a chance to glimpse daily life in multiple cities during a single visit.
There’s no audio, but that hasn’t stopped people from interacting. Visitors wave, pose, dance, or hold up handwritten signs to communicate. During the launch, people from Ireland and other countries greeted Filipinos with banners and messages—proof that even simple gestures can cross borders.
More Than Art
According to Benediktas Gylys, founder of the Portals Organization, the project is about creating real human connections. “This was our dream—to have the first Portal in Asia and to have it in Manila,” he said, adding that future installations are planned in Piauí, Brazil, and another Asian city soon.
Over the years, the Portals have sparked countless unexpected encounters from friendships to marriage proposals. For Gylys, the message is simple: the Portal is “one shared moment in time with someone who is as human as you are,” reminding visitors that even across thousands of kilometers, connection is just a wave away.
