Is your word really your bond?

Malcolm Gay, Arts Reporter for The Boston Globe, sat down with artist Paul Ramirez Jonas and N+T Director Kate Gilbert for a look inside Public Trust. 

Is your word really your bond?

The question lies at the heart of “Public Trust,” an interactive public art project that over the next three weeks will set up shop at various locations around Greater Boston.

Conceived by Brooklyn-based artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, the collaborative project asks participants not merely to consider the meaning of their words, but also to ponder the use (and, let’s face it, during this singular election cycle, abuse) of that most essential social currency: the promise.

“Each of us individually thinks we still have our word, but collectively we have a great amount of mistrust that people will come through with a promise,” said Ramírez Jonas. “It still seems to work at the individual basis, but collectively we’re all aware that we’re in a little bit of trouble.”

Continue reading online at The Boston Globe or read it in the Friday, August 27, 2016 print issue.

Image: Public Trust table by Paul Ramirez Jonas with objects to swear by. Photo courtesy of Ryan C. McMahon.