I’m an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I’m always looking to extend the boundaries.
AI WEIWEII think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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[Museums] all belongs to the cultural department, which is the biggest cultural department in the world.
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This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years.
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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
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The fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.
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In the end, I think, the state’s rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.
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If it’s possible, I will have some noodles in the morning and start talking to people, start to think about a few things in my head.
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People who can’t do that don’t get a sense of responsibility. And if you lack a sense of responsibility, you push the blame onto the system.
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I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.
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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall.
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It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.
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Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.
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It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.
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These folks are creative and ironic, and the government can ultimately not control what is going on in their heads.
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To experience poetry is to see over and above reality. It is to discover that which is beyond the physical, to experience another life and another level of feeling.
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Now you have the equal opportunity to equip yourself through information and knowledge and express yourself as an independent mind.
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Even today the borders they’re seeing the physical borders are very different from the political borders. Because all those powers are so connected, and you cannot even see whose interest in what move.
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[Being unique] gives so much privilege to people who can make it, rather than having some moral and aesthetic discussions.
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I don’t believe in a sense of home.
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Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.
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If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
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It’s the place they take you before they give you over to the judicial system. You stay there for a year or two and they make you really suffer to confess everything.
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Hopefully, other successes aren’t like me. It carries much more meaning to other people; my success story is irrelevant. It doesn’t make any sense.
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As a total activity – I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.
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I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.
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Even though everybody who looked at me would call me a Chinese artist, that’s the 1980s. New York in the ’80s was not so interesting.
AI WEIWEI