Slideshow, 2017 by Elisa Hamilton

Putting gutsy, generous, every day lives on view

In the Fall of 2017, Now + There commissioned artist Elisa H. Hamilton to create Slideshow, a multi-media project for HUBWeek's free event space on Boston’s City Hall Plaza. Using photography, analog slides, and storytelling, Hamilton and ten other Boston-area women put their gutsy, generous, every day lives on view to the public. This group — entrepreneurs, activists, educators and artists — are the heart and soul of Slideshow. 

Originally commissioned for HUBWeek 2017, Slideshow is a communal storytelling and photography series. The original iteration featured curated slide talks and an interactive photo exhibit created by the artist and ten Boston-area women. Each talk featured 25 images representing a week in the presenter's life. 

Photo by Jean Hangarter

UPCOMING:

On March 24, 2018, Elisa Hamilton and the ten original women will reunite as part of the Life in Stories Festival, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to create an intimate, communal story-sharing space in the Museum’s Living Room.

“By reconnecting with analog technology that we can touch and hold, we are reminded of how, in its time, the original slideshow allowed the exchange of ideas in a whole new way. Slideshow provides an entry point to public consciousness and conversation about our universal connections to one another and how we can bridge gaps through sharing, listening, empathy, and dialogue.” — Elisa H. Hamilton

This project was produced in conjunction with HUBWeek.

Public Trust, 2016 by Paul Ramirez Jonas

Considering the meaning of a promise

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 17, 2016 the final promise of Public Trust’s journey through Greater Boston was slowly written, one letter at a time, on the marque in Copley Square. That promise, “I promise to show up,” echoed the first one posted in Dudley 21 days earlier, “I will be a better citizen.”

Public Trust, the free interactive artwork by Brooklyn artist Paul Ramirez Jonas produced by Now + There, asked us to consider the meaning of a promise during a time when words matter. From August 27–September 17, Ramirez Jonas and a team of artist ambassadors went to three Greater Boston locations – Dudley, Kendall and Copley – and collected promises from 956 Bostonians.

Regardless of age, status, or race, Greater Boston residents and tourists alike added to the Public Trust marquee of constantly changing pledges – yours, mine, scientists’, and those of our presidential candidates. Together, we created a piece of art about promises, those contracts we make with with each other and with ourselves, and the potent speech acts that keep a society together. 

Public Trust was generously supported by the Lewis Family Foundation, which believes that our communities grow stronger through artistic expression, and the generous contributions of individuals like you. 

Public Trust, the book, is published by APC in collaboration with Now + There with support from the Elizabeth Graham Firestone Foundation and distributed by D.A.P.

Public Trust mini-documentary by RAVA Films.

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THE ARTIST

Paul Ramirez Jonas is no stranger to Boston. Born in California and raised in Honduras, Ramirez Jonas earned his BA from Brown University, his MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1989. He spent his first summer in the United States in Boston and later taught at the School of Museum of Arts/Tufts.

To engage completely with his projects, Ramirez Jonas often asks us, the participants, to contribute something: spare change, a wish…or even our own version of history. This reciprocity is a manifestation of trust and a social contract through which the viewer and artist create meaning.

His works have included large-scale monuments made of cork that allow impromptu messages to be pinned and creating new bodies of text. They’ve also included participatory pieces such as Cambridge’s Taylor Square, where he mailed 5,000 keys to the park to residents; and allowed them to shape the park’s future. This Boston based piece successfully led to Key to the City, a project presented by Creative Time in cooperation with the City of New York. Public Trust continues to build on his exploration of access, trust, and belonging. 

Paul Ramirez Jonas' selected solo exhibitions include Pinacoteca do Estado, Sao Paulo, Brazil; The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; and a survey at Ikon Gallery (UK) and Cornerhouse (UK). He has been included in group exhibitions at P.S.1 (NYC); the Brooklyn Museum; The Whitechapel (UK); Irish Museum of Modern Art (Ireland); The New Museum (NYC); and Kunsthaus Zurich (Switzerland). He participated in the 1st Johannesburg Biennale; the 1st Seoul Biennial; the 6th Shanghai Biennial; the 28th Sao Paulo Biennial; the 53rd Venice Biennial; and the 7th Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. In 2010 his Key to the City project was presented by Creative Time in cooperation with the City of New York. The Contemporary Art Museum Houston is organizing a 25 year survey of his work to be presented in 2017. He is currently an Associate Professor at Hunter College, and The City University of New York (CUNY).

Explore Ramirez Jonas' work further by watching his October 2016 artist talk with Now + There and MassART.

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THE SUPPORTERS

In 2015, the Lewis Family Foundation expanded its philanthropy into Boston's public art arena through the anonymous support of Now + There. Their support helped us establish firm roots and helped fund our first collaboration, "Faces of Dudley." 

Now, we are thrilled to announce that the Lewis Family Foundation is provided full funding for Paul Ramirez Jonas’ Public Trust. With their generous support, we are able to bring this timely project about promises to three Greater Boston locations and provide the opportunity to use art to give voice.

The Lewis Family Foundation seeks to empower young people, develop courageous citizens and leaders, level the playing field for educational and job opportunities, and create strong strategic alliances. The Lewis Family Foundation believes that our communities grow stronger through artistic expression.

Thank you to our generous supporters who contributed in the last three months to support Public Trust and more projects like it. 

Max and Beth Bardeen | Bonnie Bastien | Carly Blais | Boston Properties | William Cargill | Alberta Chu & Murray Robinson | Emily Day | Mark and Janet Edwards | Larry and Cheryl Franklin | Margaret Gilbert | Suzanne Gilbert Lee | Geoff Hargadon and Patricia La Valley | Hal and Jodi Hess| Beth Kantrowitz | Jeremey Liu | Robert Mason | Harry & Melinda Miller | Greer Muldowney | Daniel Ranalli | Jennifer Schmitt | Kathy and Gary Sharpless | Beth F. Terrana | Lisa Tung and Spencer Glendon | Natalie Williams | Anonymous (2)

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Public Trust, 2016 (Copley)

September 11 — 17

Copley Square, Boston, was the final site of Public Trust, September 11–17, 2016. Click each thumbnail for more pictures from that time period. Read all the Copley promises here.

Public Trust, 2016 (Kendall)

September 3-10

Kendall Center, Cambridge, was the second site of Public Trust, September 3–10, 2016. Click each thumbnail for more pictures from that time period. Read all the Kendall promises here.

Public Trust, 2016 (Dudley)

August 27 - September 2

The Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library, Roxbury, was the first site of Public Trust, from August 27–September 2, 2016. Click each thumbnail for more pictures from that time period. Read all the Dudley promises here.

Fieldworks: Season One Screening, 2016

On April 11, 2016, with Massachusetts College of Art and Design N+T co-hosted the Boston debut of FIELDWORKS: Season One, A Blade of Grass’ film series.

Through film we explored the impact of socially engaged artists Mel Chin, Brett Cook, Pablo Helguera, Fran Ilich, Jan Mun, SexEd: Norene Leddy & Liz Slagus, and Jody Wood.

Following the screening we discussed the medium of film to disseminate ideas, ABOG's fellowship program, and the impact of public art with Deborah Fisher, Founding Executive Director of A Blade of Grass (ABOG).

FIELDWORKS: Season One films can be viewed for free on ABOG's website. For more in-depth information on the featured artists and their community participants and collaborators, check out ABOG's forum. FIELDWORKS Season One is produced by RAVA Films and One Hundred Seconds with A Blade of Grass, a New York City based organization nurturing socially engaged art. 

“I think social practice is an evolution of institutional critique.”

— Deborah Fisher

“It’s not about makeovers,
it’s about self-esteem.”

— Jose Montanez, stylist and project participant in Jodi Wood’s Beauty in Transition

Learning from Our Communities, 2015

Learning From Our Communities (September 10, 2015) was a simple community engagement project initiated at the Emerge festival at City Hall. We asked the public a variety of questions regarding their thoughts and opinions on what their neighborhoods need as well as the gems and resources they cherish. 

Read the blog for more answers to this and other questions.

No one knows that I'm really good at _________.