I loved New York — every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong — visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.
AI WEIWEII am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.
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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.
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I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom
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Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
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For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.
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I think China is laughing about the results of the presidential elections. China, Russia, they all laugh about it.
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Maybe [success] is because I’m in China and I’m more open. Maybe it’s my independent behavior, or because I participated in certain projects. I have no idea.
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At the moment about 350,000 students return to China from abroad each year – 350,000 young and educated people. I know about them because they know me and often ask me in the street if they can take a selfie with me.
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We are living in a popular culture where everything is overexposed.
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Nowadays, China is experiencing the detrimental effects of such decisions. Its citizens have no creativity.
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Paintings can be painted with the left hand, the right hand, someone else’s hand, or many people’s hands. The scale of production is irrelevant to its content.
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This so-called fame or being better off doesn’t really attract me at all.
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This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the quality of their lives.
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Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.
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The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society’s level of civilization.
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