The portal giving Brummies a live link to Germany

It is not every day that a walk through Birmingham city centre leads to a conversation with someone hundreds of miles away in Germany.

But that is exactly what is happening inside a brightly decorated shipping container that has appeared outside the Hippodrome.

Step through the door and, for a few minutes at least, Frankfurt feels a lot closer than 480 miles away.

The installation is part of Sister Cities Dialogue, a project marking 60 years of friendship between Birmingham and Frankfurt. Through a life-sized digital portal, people in the two cities can sit down together, chat and share a glimpse of their daily lives.

It does not take long for strangers to start talking.

"Hello Birmingham!" says Julie Cazenave from Frankfurt, who has worked on the project.

She said the portal was created to celebrate the relationship between the two cities and encourage people to make new connections.

Shortly after our conversation ends, shop owner Manuella appears on the German side of the portal during her daily walk through Frankfurt.

We explain that we are sitting in Birmingham.

"This is cool," she says with a smile.

"I was just walking around like I do every day. I have lived here for more than 50 years and I love this city."

For a few minutes, it feels less like a video call and more like two groups of people sitting in the same room.

Soon, Manuella is saying goodbye and heading off to dinner with colleagues.

"See you in Birmingham. Bye bye!"

Not long afterwards, Michael and Max take a seat.

"It's a very nice idea, to communicate with people in other parts of Europe. Birmingham, of course!" they say, waving virtually from across the continent.

Those spontaneous encounters are exactly what organisers hoped for.

Jen Wilbur, from non-profit arts and heritage organisation Bertz Associates, has been helping deliver the Birmingham side of the project.

"It's been magical being in the container and being part of those conversations, seeing people open up," she said.

"We've had a lot of comments from people on the Frankfurt side saying, 'aren't Brummies so friendly?', because we're really keen to come in and have conversations. It's been really fantastic."

Inside, the experience has been carefully designed to feel as natural as possible.

The container is dark, with lighting focused on a wall-sized screen showing the other city. Six chairs face the portal, while a microphone suspended from the ceiling means everyone can be heard.

An identical set-up has been created in Frankfurt.

"What makes this special is that it really feels like you are in the room with somebody," Wilbur said.

"It's a full-body live experience. It takes up a whole wall of the container, so it really feels like you are in one room together."

The project links Frankfurt not only with Birmingham but also with its twin cities Krakow in Poland and Lviv in Ukraine.

For Birmingham residents, however, Frankfurt may already feel familiar.

The German city has been twinned with Birmingham since 1966 and is well known to many through the Frankfurt Christmas Market, which returns to the city next month.

Councillor Deborah Harries, Birmingham City Council's cabinet member for culture, said the project would help bring people in both cities closer together through "conversation, engagement and understanding".

The free attraction is open on weekdays until 4 November.

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