Paul Ramírez Jonas’ Public Trust is an interactive spectacle where the whole city becomes performers in pledging promises to fellow citizens. Presented alongside political headlines and manifestoes, words the public have long learned to mistrust, are we forced to question the reliability of these public pledges too or given a gift of hope in words we can believe in? 

Even on a typically dreich, Glasgow morning, a smattering of anticipation surrounds Ramirez Jonas’ public artwork. Placed outside the statuesque monument that is GoMA and adjacent to the iconically Glaswegian Wellington, adorned with the roguish traffic cone hat, the work strikes quite a pose, but seems at home in this urban setting.  

The antithesis of fast news, the giant lightbox is constructed letter by letter with the day’s headlines. I stand in optimistic expectation as the words ‘Hungary vows safe passage…’ adorns the board but the fleeting hope evaporates when the line is completed with “for Putin”. The fact that that optimism exists, despite the indescribable terror that seems to be endemic, is testament to human spirit and integral to this work. 

Reminiscent of Holzer and Creeds magnificent contemporary artworks, that subvert marketing aesthetics to question the status quo, Public Trust, takes this one step further by creating a transformative, dynamic work that embodies the collective voice. 

Asking one of the facilitators about the work I am buoyed when they tell me that they have been amazed by “how vulnerable the promises get” but also how “mischievous” they can be too. Bishop Maydown, a facilitator and performance artist, explains that many of the promises are personal, promising to learn the guitar or made to a late father whilst others speak to a social consciousness and responsibility. 

I am invited to sit and Bishop shares with me the last promise from the day before and asks me to add my own. I nostalgically hark back to a Brownie Promise made decades ago to “do my best”, one which serves well in the micro and macro sense but is in stark contrast to the headlines of the day. We discuss how “Prince Andrew agrees to give up his titles” and how the semantics of agree and promise come from widely different places. Agreeing comes perhaps from a place of compromise or duty whereas a promise comes from the heart. And this seems to be the crux of the work- it has heart and to answer my earlier question- I see this as a gift of hope and belief in everyday people, in their word and kindness. 

Bishop then explains that we’ll make a contract together- one for me and one for the exhibit. They tell me that younger people like to have something to take away with them- this, not so young person, is pretty chuffed too. They take a rubbing of the headlines and my promise and stamp it with the Take Me Somewhere seal. I’m asked to add my signature in writing, blood or by fingerprint and take an oath over a symbolic object of my choosing. I choose the Jupiter Stone a connection to the earth and my own personal values but you can pledge from everything from the Qu’oran to a Morton’s breakfast roll. 

This ritual, and Bishop’s gentle but encouraging interactions, give this whole act a weighty significance and I really feel like I’ve taken part in something special. I feel like I can change the world. 

By Beth Primrose