From the desert of Yemen to the urban centres of New Delhi, Athens and London, to cities across North America, this past year has seen an extraordinary wave of protests sweeping the world. Everywhere people are taking to the streets calling for change, reclaiming their right to express themselves and refusing the status quo. Starting on December 2nd, 2011 and running through to January 15, 2012, the large scale urban screen operated by the Surrey Art Gallery on the exterior wall of the Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre in Surrey, British Columbia becomes the site of Rewrite the Year, a tribute to the year 2011. Rewrite the Year revisits 365 key headlines of 2011. From protests, elections, conflicts, change, victories and other events – local and international – the year is re-written and re-broadcast. Citizens are invited to participate in the project, collectively rewriting history through an online web interface or through text messaging to the live screen. Headlines used for this project are drawn from local and international newspapers such as Surrey Now, the Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times and The Guardian. Transformed headlines are collected and archived. As the artwork moves through the 2011 headlines yesterday’s news becomes today’s headlines. |
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