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Paul Ramírez Jonas’s participatory artwork Public Trust was presented in Toronto last month, inviting strangers to make promises and take home a printed contract. The project, first presented in Boston in 2016, places ordinary people’s commitments alongside promises made by public figures and institutions.
Artist Paul Ramírez Jonas’s Public Trust invited people in Toronto last month to sit with strangers, make a promise and take home a one-of-a-kind printed contract, bringing the decade-old participatory artwork to the city ahead of its municipal election. The Bentway presented the project, which asks participants to consider how personal commitments relate to promises made by politicians and other powerful institutions.
In the Toronto presentation, participants sat down with someone they did not know, made a promise, and swore to keep it. Their words appeared on a large-scale marquee; each participant also received a unique contract memorializing the vow. One promise reported from the event was, “I promise to disagree better.” The source does not give a total number of Toronto participants or a precise date for the presentation.
Public Trust was commissioned and first presented in Boston in 2016 by Now + There, an arts organization later renamed the Boston Public Art Triennial. It was the organization’s first project. In Boston, promises from residents were placed alongside daily headlines and commitments made by politicians, corporations, weather forecasters and others, according to the original report.
The project’s format brings private declarations into public view without treating them as equivalent to institutional statements. The report describes the juxtaposition as an invitation to reflect on the power of words, participation and democratic involvement. It does not claim that the artwork can compel officials or institutions to keep their promises.
Private Vows Meet Public Promises
The Toronto presentation links an ordinary act—a person making a promise to a stranger—to a larger question about public trust and accountability. The work makes commitments visible and gives participants a keepsake, while placing their words in a setting where public statements and daily news are also part of the conversation.
That approach matters during an election period, when voters encounter promises from candidates and institutions alongside their own expectations of civic life. But the artwork is a prompt for reflection, not a mechanism for checking whether a political pledge is fulfilled. Its significance lies in creating a shared encounter and asking participants to think about what it means to give one’s word.
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From Boston’s 2016 Commission to Toronto
Now + There commissioned and first presented Public Trust in Boston in 2016, months before Donald Trump was first elected president, according to the source. The original report describes residents’ promises as often centered on family or self-improvement, even as the people making them came from different walks of life. Those commitments appeared alongside headlines and promises by more powerful actors.
The work has since become a reference point for its commissioning organization, the report says. Anna Gallagher-Ross, who directs programming at The Bentway, brought the project to Toronto in the lead-up to the city’s municipal election. The source characterizes the piece as an opinion report and presents its sense of renewed urgency as an interpretation, rather than a measured finding about the artwork’s effects.
The Limits of the Public Record
The source does not report how many people participated in Toronto, how long the installation was on view, or whether The Bentway plans to present the project again. It also provides no follow-up on whether participants kept their promises or on any measurable effect the artwork had on civic engagement.
The comparison between residents’ vows and promises in political or corporate headlines is an artistic framing, not evidence that those promises carry the same power or consequences. The source does not assess the truth or fulfilment of any specific political commitment.
No Further Presentation Announced
The Toronto presentation took place ahead of the city’s municipal election, but the source gives no further dates or announced next stop for Public Trust. It does not say whether the marquee, contracts or participant promises will be revisited after the event.
For now, the next step for readers is not a scheduled project milestone but the question the work leaves with its participants: what responsibilities follow when a promise is made in public? Any future presentation or formal evaluation of the project’s impact remains unreported.
Key Questions
What is Public Trust?
Public Trust is a participatory artwork by Paul Ramírez Jonas. People make promises with strangers, see the vows displayed on a marquee and take home a printed contract.
Where and when was the artwork presented in Toronto?
The Bentway presented the project in Toronto last month, ahead of the city’s municipal election. The source does not provide an exact date or the installation’s duration.
When did Public Trust begin?
Now + There commissioned and first presented the work in Boston in 2016. The organization was later renamed the Boston Public Art Triennial.
Does the artwork verify whether political promises are kept?
No such fact-checking function is described in the source. The artwork places personal vows alongside public commitments and headlines as a prompt for reflection; it does not establish whether officials fulfil particular pledges.
Source: hyperallergic.com
