From the desert of Yemen to the streets of New Delhi, Cairo, Athens, London, Madrid, New York city, this past year has seen an extraordinary wave of protest swipe the world. Everywhere, people are taking the streets demanding change, reclaiming their rights to express themselves and refusing the status quo.

As the year comes to an end, the large scale urban screen of the Surrey community centre invites local residents and online viewers to a collective tribute to this tumultuous 2011.

Through December, Rewrite The Year revisits 365 key headlines of 2011. From protests, elections, conflicts, change, victories and others – local & international – the year is re-broadcast, one headline at a time.

People are invited to rewrite these headlines together, reviewing what worked and what didn’t and collectively re-inventing multiple stories of the year behind us.

Collective contributions

Participants will send keywords using text messaging to rewrite the headlines one word at a time. Sometimes comical or sometimes serious, sometimes dark and sometimes visionary, the contributions will be as varied as the people who encounter the project.

Everyone’s words count, but only one at a time, this ensuring a diverse series of results collectively created. Transformed headlines will be collected and archived to constitute a renewed vision for the year 2011.

When 2012 comes

As we move through the 2011 headlines and get closer to current dates, yesterday’s news become today’s – we get to rewrite the present, decide how it should be told, or what it should hold. The project that starts by honoring and revisiting what’s behind us, brings closure to the year by ending with a series of wishful visions for the year ahead as well.