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 WEIWEIIt’s like the mountains, the ocean and the rivers. It has its own geological forms. Societies cannot be flat. But during change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we’ll be going backward.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I 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.
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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
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Overturning police cars is a super-intense workout. It’s probably the only sport I enjoy.
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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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You know about the fantasies related to the classics, but there is no real discussion about today’s life and no discussion of the real conditions – which is really sickening.
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Nationality and borders are barriers to our intelligence, to our imagination and to all kinds of possibilities.
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To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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It is to wonder about the world, to understand the nature of people and, most importantly, to be shared with another, old or young, known or unknown.
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Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.
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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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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.
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The tragic reality of today is reflected in the true plight of our spiritual existence. We are spineless and cannot stand straight.
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Everything is art. Everything is politics.
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You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it’s empty.
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Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China’s society is opening.
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I’m an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I’m always looking to extend the boundaries.
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I never had secure, belonging feelings with this society [in China].
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A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.
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To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It’s a very complicated process to do large projects.
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If a master, a wise and experienced man, wields a great weapon, that’s beautiful. He can serve peace with it. But if someone’s emotions are imbalanced, even if he has the best equipment,
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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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Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
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For those actors and directors who produce films which are always about the old kingdom or about heroes.
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The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China’s future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state.
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It’s like the mountains, the ocean and the rivers. It has its own geological forms. Societies cannot be flat. But during change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we’ll be going backward.
AI WEIWEI