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Paul Ramírez Jonas’s participatory artwork Public Trust was presented in Toronto by The Bentway last month, inviting strangers to make promises and take home written contracts. First shown in Boston in 2016, the project places personal commitments alongside public statements and political promises.
Artist Paul Ramírez Jonas’s Public Trust was presented in Toronto last month, inviting people to sit with strangers, make promises and take home contracts recording their vows. The participatory artwork, staged by The Bentway ahead of Toronto’s municipal election, brings everyday commitments into public view and asks what people’s words mean in civic life.
In the Toronto presentation, participants sat across from someone they did not know, made a promise and swore to keep it. Their words appeared on a large-scale marquee, and each participant received a one-of-a-kind contract memorializing the promise. One vow reported from the event was: “I promise to disagree better.”
The Bentway presented the project, with programming directed by Anna Gallagher-Ross. The artwork was commissioned and first shown by Now + There, an organization later renamed the Boston Public Art Triennial. Its Boston presentation took place in 2016, months before Donald Trump was first elected president, according to the source report.
In Boston, promises from local participants were placed alongside daily headlines and commitments from politicians, corporations, weather forecasters and others. The report describes personal pledges as often relating to family or self-improvement, while coming from people with different backgrounds. The juxtaposition connects ordinary speech with declarations made by institutions and public figures.
Personal Promises Meet Public Power
The work’s central question is not whether every promise will be kept, but how public words shape expectations and trust. By putting personal vows beside authoritative statements, Public Trust invites visitors to compare commitments made by people around them with those made by political and commercial actors.
That framing gives the Toronto presentation a civic dimension as the city approaches a municipal election. The source report says the project was chosen to prompt reflection on participation and the power of words. It does not establish that the artwork measures public confidence or changes voting behavior; its role is to create a shared setting for making and considering promises.
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From Boston Commission to Toronto
Public Trust began as Now + There’s first project in 2016. The source report describes the commission as a major undertaking for the organization’s small team, which consisted of roughly one and a half people. The project later set a standard for its commissions, according to the report.
Ramírez Jonas has said he hopes the artwork will eventually become irrelevant. The report’s author connects the Toronto presentation’s timing with a sense that the project has renewed urgency, but that is an interpretation in an opinion article, not a finding supported by polling or other data. The supplied account gives no detailed dates for the Toronto event or the upcoming municipal election.
Attendance and Outcomes Remain Unknown
The available report does not state how many people took part in Toronto, how long the presentation ran, or how the promises were selected for display. It also does not say whether participants will be contacted later to learn if they kept their commitments.
No evidence is provided about the artwork’s effect on trust in politicians, civic participation or election decisions. The claim that the project feels more urgent is the source author’s assessment. The scale and lasting impact of the Toronto presentation remain unclear from the information provided.
The Election and Future Presentations
The presentation was scheduled in the lead-up to Toronto’s municipal election, but the source report does not provide the election date or announce any follow-up programming. It is also unclear whether The Bentway plans to show Public Trust again or publish a record of the Toronto promises.
For now, the documented next milestone is the city’s municipal election. Any further presentation, participant follow-up or assessment of the project’s effects has not been announced in the supplied material.
Key Questions
What is Public Trust?
Public Trust is a participatory artwork by Paul Ramírez Jonas. Participants make promises to strangers, see them displayed on a marquee and receive written contracts recording them.
Where and when was the project presented?
The work was presented in Toronto last month by The Bentway. It was first commissioned and shown in Boston in 2016.
What kinds of promises did participants make?
The source report describes commitments often related to family or self-improvement. One Toronto example was, “I promise to disagree better.”
Does the artwork show whether politicians keep their promises?
No. The report says the Boston presentation placed participants’ promises alongside headlines and commitments from politicians and other institutions. It provides no measurement or finding about whether political promises were kept.
Will Public Trust return after the Toronto presentation?
The supplied report does not announce another presentation or a participant follow-up. Future plans remain unspecified.
Source: hyperallergic.com
