I spent a lot of time standing on street corners [of New York City] talking to local residents. I spent time in bookstores and galleries. But most of the time, I really did not have much to do.
AI WEIWEITo experience poetry is to see over and above reality. It is to discover that which is beyond the physical, to experience another life and another level of feeling.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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If there’s the right condition, I always want to express the concept or ideas in a very independent way.
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In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.
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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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I’m just bringing them to Kassel to see the art show, and pay their room and board.
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I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it’s very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.
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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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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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The fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.
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It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.
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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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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that.
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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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In my case, I was stuck there for quite a while. New York is large enough to be a very abstract city, so nobody cares.
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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