Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it’s not a product; it’s an understanding of human nature.
AI WEIWEIIn my case, I was stuck there for quite a while. New York is large enough to be a very abstract city, so nobody cares.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Every day I’m learning something new from the practice. It’s very rewarding.
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[Cultural departments] don’t care about culture. Maybe they’re the furthest from the people who understand culture.
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I spend a lot of time talking to journalists.
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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In China, we don’t have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn’t even have a gallery.
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No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.
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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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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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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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It’s really rubbish that some kind of “technical” learning means you will be a better person because you know this skill better.
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Many people are going to use [Beijing National Stadium], which makes it more meaningful. If we don’t design it, somebody else has to design it.
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…photographs are facts, but not necessarily true… The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.
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You don’t have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.
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Even though everybody who looked at me would call me a Chinese artist, that’s the 1980s. New York in the ’80s was not so interesting.
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I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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As a total activity – I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.
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The rest of the world understands little about China’s changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
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A state like China looks so powerful, but they are so scared of the Internet, so the Internet is more powerful than them.
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I don’t think China should care if this crazy old guy should have a show here or not.
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I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.
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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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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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Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
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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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