There isn’t a single Chinese university that can invite me to give a talk. Even though I know there are many students who would like to hear what I have to say.
Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.
My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall.
The whole Chinese system – not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society – is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information.
![Ai Weiwei Quote - The society was so different [in China] – it was a feudalistic society. It didn’t come to a point of industrial revolution until twenty years ago.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/the-society-was-so-different-in-china-it-was-a-feu-683x1024.jpg)
![Ai Weiwei Quote - Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/somehow-we-tan-dun-and-director-chen-kaige-were-al-683x1024.jpg)
![Ai Weiwei Quote - I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/i-lived-there-in-new-york-city-as-an-artist-but-ne-683x1024.jpg)
