“In the end, I think, the state’s rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.”

Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.

Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?

I’m just bringing them to Kassel to see the art show, and pay their room and board.

The purpose of art is the fight for freedom.

[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.

The project or a few ideas which are not finished or if there are possible directions and what will lead into another game. It’s always like setting up some kind of game you can continuously play.

You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it’s empty.

Nowadays, China is experiencing the detrimental effects of such decisions. Its citizens have no creativity.

I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.

Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.

You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.

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.

That’s why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.

But personally, I don’t think my work and my understanding of art is so much related to being Chinese, but the character of that. Maybe it’s beyond my own consciousness.

I don’t belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.

There are many cases and layers of racist behavior in the US – from police treatment to the issues of education and job opportunities. In America, however, such cases are being discussed publically.

There were basically three themes. One was the sun theme which is the guitar when he’d get sun on his leg and it comes again in the end. And there’s of course the lullaby which Dido sang, “If I Rise.” And then there’s this driving guitar which is the motivation theme.

Love for me begins and ends with you.

At the end of the day, I am going for all the belts, so I am going to have to go through all of them. And I would live to fight the U.K. guys – even in the U.K.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

I’m not saying goodbye to life because I’m a misanthropist or disdain this life, but because, for other reasons, it’s time to move on.

I tried to bang down a lot of doors but Virgin were the only label who believed in what I was doing. I ended up with the label that understood what I was trying to do.

I will be more than I was yesterday, even if that means I can’t take you with me.

If the world was ending, I think I would grab some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a bunch of water, and I’d probably just I’d probably go crazy.