I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
AI WEIWEII came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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At the moment about 350,000 students return to China from abroad each year – 350,000 young and educated people. I know about them because they know me and often ask me in the street if they can take a selfie with me.
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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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Through my work and ways of expression, I strive to engage in dialogue with the society that I am living in.
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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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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.
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A few thousand are to be built in the next few years, all using taxpayer money. But there is no system, no research, no content, no good programs, no good managers.
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Of course, people will call you an old artist or young artist, which is just a character of you.
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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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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate [the two] is itself a very political intention.
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The Internet is the best thing that ever happened to China. It turns us into individuals and also enables us to share our perceptions and feelings. It creates a culture of individualism and exchange even though the real society doesn’t promote it.
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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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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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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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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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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
AI WEIWEI