Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.
AI WEIWEIA small act is worth a million thoughts.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
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Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.
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I don’t like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.
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I 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.
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It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.
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If people are being abused or even killed during an arrest, this is highly disturbing.
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My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.
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A nation like China has become one of the biggest production fields for exporting cheap labor, which also re-questions our history and past, re-questions human desire, and the human illusions of the past.
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China is at a different stage of development, human rights are violated here much more often. And still, we see improvements even here.
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People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It’s an unbearable condition.
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Imagine one day, the hateful world around you collapses. And it is your attitude, words and actions that put an end to it. Will you be excited?
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In the end, I think, the state’s rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.
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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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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
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I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.
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