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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.

Ai Weiwei

Otherwise, I think the building can be bigger, larger, and the city can be much more crazy. The problem is the government structure is so deadly stupid, not really solving problems but creating a lot of problems itself every day.
AI WEIWEI

Bigger Building City Crazy Larger More Much Stupid Thinking
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
There’s no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling, to be proud of it.
AI WEIWEI

Artwork Feeling Proud Relly Single Think Thinking Want
[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
A state like China looks so powerful, but they are so scared of the Internet, so the Internet is more powerful than them.
AI WEIWEI

Country Internet More Powerful Scared State
I don’t think I was very structured in that society and I don’t really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
AI WEIWEI

Believe Country Personal Structured Success Thinking
It’s really rubbish that some kind of “technical” learning means you will be a better person because you know this skill better.
AI WEIWEI

Better Learning Mean Person Rubbish Skill Technical
Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China’s society is opening.
AI WEIWEI

Changing Country Opening Past Society Year
[Therefore] holding a trial outside the court. I think that is fairness, that is justice, that is a civil society. Otherwise call it an evil society because everything is hidden.
AI WEIWEI

Development Everything Fairness Holding Internet Letting Outside People Trail
I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat.
AI WEIWEI

Cities Designed Event Seat Stadium Stated Toilet
No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.
AI WEIWEI

Claim Established Human Right Society State
By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.
AI WEIWEI

Condition Participating Relate Society Understand Way World
We are living in a popular culture where everything is overexposed.
AI WEIWEI

Culture Everything Overexposed Popular Living
I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.
AI WEIWEI

Child Children Ginsberg Person Thinking
They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things.
AI WEIWEI

Border Cope Create Deal Election Idea Imbalance Making Meet Political Popularity Selling Solving Voter
I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that’s the true crime.
AI WEIWEI

Informed Letting Passion People Picture Right Thinking
The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
AI WEIWEI

Burden Changing Responsibility Shoulder World
The deadly weapon against totalitarian society is openness – doing everything very openly on the Internet, letting people know every detail, any little development. Once it is out there, everybody can make their own judgement.
AI WEIWEI

Deadly Everything Evil Internet Letting Openness People Thinking Weapon
It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
AI WEIWEI

Country Essential Giving People Protect Protecting Society Value
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.
AI WEIWEI

Carries Hopefully Irrelevant Like More People Stories Story Success Successes
And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society – the kind of mistreatment society gave him.
AI WEIWEI

Condition Gave Kind Mistreatment Society
Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.
AI WEIWEI

Anything Country Crazy Meaningful Think Thinking Wrong
If there’s the right condition, I always want to express the concept or ideas in a very independent way.
AI WEIWEI

Always Condition Ideas Independent Right Want Way
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
Of course, people will call you an old artist or young artist, which is just a character of you.
AI WEIWEI

Art Artist Character Course People Thinking
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
[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
AI WEIWEI

Art Attitude Culture Long Practicing Related

Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.

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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.

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