There’s no such thing as “fixed” culture. China is also becoming more global. Its problems are becoming international problems, becoming German problems, becoming American problems.
AI WEIWEILiberty is about the right to question everything.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.
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These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas….In truth, they are heroes of our time.
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If I look at it, I would laugh. I don’t know how I became successful.
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I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
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I will bring 1,001 Chinese to participate as my artwork there – any Chinese who is a Chinese passport holder and over eighteen years old could apply through my blog.
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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.
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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.
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If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is ‘art’ for?
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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.
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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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[Being unique] gives so much privilege to people who can make it, rather than having some moral and aesthetic discussions.
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They’ve become part of a conspiracy, collaborators of the crime, which is lying to the general public and trying to hide the kind of criminal acts happening in many cases.
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China didn’t want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul – which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless,
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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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To give a price to an artwork, no matter how high or low, is always absurd. It’s not something that can be measured by money or by certain numbers.
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You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.
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We grew up in a very material-lacking socialist society, but today China is a capitalist society. It’s very materialistic. It’s full of desire and luxury goods.
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The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
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I spend a lot of time talking to journalists.
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New York has given me a lot, but I still don’t consider it home.
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You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
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After I came back [to China], there was still a long period of time when I felt I had nothing to do.
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A clear understanding of such differences will help the rest of the world understand China and all that is happening to the nation.
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The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that.
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It’s just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
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Selling high or low doesn’t mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.
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