Paul Ramírez Jonas's 'Public Trust' Makes Torontonians Keep Their Promises

By Elena Vasquez

Last month, hundreds of Torontonians sat down with strangers, swore oaths in public, and walked away holding one-of-a-kind contracts bearing their own promises. One vow read: "I promise to disagree better."

The participatory public artwork is "Public Trust" by Paul Ramírez Jonas. The Bentway presented it in Toronto, where Anna Gallagher-Ross directs programming. The work arrived in the lead-up to the city's municipal election — timed, its presenters say, to make people weigh the power of their words and their role in the democratic process.

Where did the work begin?

"Public Trust" dates to 2016. Now + There, a Boston organization founded by Kate Gilbert and later renamed the Boston Public Art Triennial, commissioned and first showcased the piece months before Donald Trump was elected president. It was the organization's first project, produced by what its team describes as a one-and-a-half-person staff, and it has since set the standard for the group's commissions.

The format has stayed constant across a decade. Everyday participants — Bostonians in 2016, Torontonians in the latest edition — make a promise, swear on it, watch it spelled out on a large-scale marquee, and receive a memorializing contract to keep.

What does the work actually show?

The piece juxtaposes personal vows with daily headlines: promises made by politicians, corporations, weather forecasters, and other authorities. The Boston participants came from very different walks of life, yet their commitments often converged on family or self-improvement. That intermingling of the personal and the authoritative, the source notes, invites reflection on the power of words, participation, and each person's role in democracy.

Ramírez Jonas often quips that he would like the project to one day become irrelevant — a wish that, ten years and one Trump-era origin later, remains unfulfilled.

Why Toronto, and why now?

The Bentway's staging coincided with Toronto's municipal election campaign. The presenters write that they "could think of no better project" to invite people to reflect on the power of their words, and they ask directly why the simple act of sitting across from a stranger and making a promise now feels more important than ever.

The work's own numbers frame its reach. One contract per promise. One stranger across the table. Hundreds of vows collected in a single month in one city.

The takeaway: a marquee, an oath, and a signed contract turn a private pledge into a public act — and make the promises of politicians, corporations, and citizens legible on the same sign. With "Public Trust" now active in its second country a decade after its debut, Ramírez Jonas's wish for the work's irrelevance looks further away than ever.