Skawennati's Promesse is still on the CAM building through September

Since 17 June 2026, the front of the Conseil des arts de Montréal's own building at 1210 rue Sherbrooke Est has carried Promesse / Promise / Kwahrharatstén:ni, an installation by Kanien'kehá:ka artist Skawennati. It's the winning work of CAM's first-ever ephemeral public art competition, and it's on view until the end of September.

Skawennati has described the placement as a way to "cohabiter avec une signalétique et des symboles autochtones dans l'espace urbain, où ils portent et transmettent les valeurs qui leur sont propres" (to cohabit with Indigenous signage and symbols in urban space, where they carry and transmit their own values). The work went up a few days before National Indigenous Peoples Day, 21 June.

Circus Box didn't cover this when it went up in June. It's surfacing now as CAM marks its 70th anniversary with a video series featuring the artists who've crossed its path, Skawennati among them, and it's worth a look before the installation comes down.