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I came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.

Ai Weiwei

People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It’s an unbearable condition.
AI WEIWEI

Care Condition General Make People Sick Society Tendency
I don’t personally feel any association with a kind of culture related to state, or culture related to power, which I think is always disgusting.
AI WEIWEI

Association Culture Feel Kind Personality Power Related State Thinking
Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.
AI WEIWEI

Cities Crazy Destroy Enjoy Much Nostalgic
The whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.
AI WEIWEI

Attitude Different More Much Open Realize Society Way
To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.
AI WEIWEI

Artist Call Certain Chinese Condition Country Kind Reflect Yourself
Just look at the statistics: Each university has tens of thousands of applications for students who want to be in art school, but they can only accept a few hundred.
AI WEIWEI

Application Art Look School Statistic Student Ten Thousand
Nationality and borders are barriers to our intelligence, to our imagination and to all kinds of possibilities.
AI WEIWEI

Barrier Border Imagination Intelligence Nationality Possibilities
Warhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work.
AI WEIWEI

Influence Interview Understood Warhol Work Writing
In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.
AI WEIWEI

Deal Democratic Dictatorship Kind Society Totalitarian
I call on people to be ‘obsessed citizens,’ forever questioning and asking for accountability. That’s the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life.
AI WEIWEI

Accountability Citizen Forever Happy Life Obsessed People Questioning
It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that. There are crises and emergencies all the time, we might not even be aware of some. But I am afraid we’ll have to wait and observe precisely what the government is up to.
AI WEIWEI

Crises Easy Emergencies Government Job Time Waiting
I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat.
AI WEIWEI

Cities Designed Event Seat Stadium Stated Toilet
I’m doing quite a few things now. In one day, I will go to Kassel, Germany, for a documentary project I’ve been preparing for half a year.
AI WEIWEI

Art Chinese Country Documentary Few Prepared Project Quite Thing Year
Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
AI WEIWEI

Barely Casulaities Country Deal People Political Treated
I also doubt a man can give really clear reasons for anything.
AI WEIWEI

Anything Clear Doubt Giving Man Really Reason
[Cultural departments] don’t care about culture. Maybe they’re the furthest from the people who understand culture.
AI WEIWEI

Care Culture Furthest Maybe People Understand

I came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.

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I came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.

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Popular Authors

More Ai Weiwei Quotes