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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.

Ai Weiwei

[Cultural department] understand nothing but bureaucratic daily affairs. They don’t care about culture.
AI WEIWEI

Affair Care Culture Daily Understand
I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable – how we decide what is valuable.
AI WEIWEI

Decide Looks New Shattering Thinking Valuable Way
I don’t think I was very structured in that society and I don’t really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
AI WEIWEI

Believe Country Personal Structured Success Thinking
When human beings are scared and feel everything is exposed to the government, we will censor ourselves from free thinking. That’s dangerous for human development.
AI WEIWEI

Censor Development Everything Exposed Feel Government Ourselves Scared Thinking
The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern and good intentions.
AI WEIWEI

Avoid Belief Carrodes Denies Ignorant Mankind Minded Misunderstanding Narrow Warmth
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.
AI WEIWEI

Abstract Care City Country Enough Large Nobody Quite Stuck
You can never know what is and what is not powerful, but you can always find out what the powerful people are scared of.
AI WEIWEI

Always Know Look People Powerful Scared
That’s why the country can’t face up to open competition – unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.
AI WEIWEI

Competition Country Face Measure Open Resort
It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that. There are crises and emergencies all the time, we might not even be aware of some. But I am afraid we’ll have to wait and observe precisely what the government is up to.
AI WEIWEI

Crises Easy Emergencies Government Job Time Waiting
For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
AI WEIWEI

Opening Own Refuse Year
To give a price to an artwork, no matter how high or low, is always absurd. It’s not something that can be measured by money or by certain numbers.
AI WEIWEI

Absurd Always Artwork Giving High Matter Measured Number Price Something
I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.
AI WEIWEI

Architecture Believe Best Collaboration Made Product
I think to deal with the situation like human crisis, 65 million people being displaced, lost their home, and with such human tragedy, has to make every level of society to be conscious and to be alert about the situation.
AI WEIWEI

Crisis Displaced Home Human Lost Million People Situation Strong Thinking Tragedy
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.
AI WEIWEI

Country Director Future Going Moment Outside Priilied Somehow Time
By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.
AI WEIWEI

Condition Participating Relate Society Understand Way World
The tragic reality of today is reflected in the true plight of our spiritual existence. We are spineless and cannot stand straight.
AI WEIWEI

Existence Freedom Plight Powerful Reality Reflected Spiritual Tasted

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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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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Popular Authors

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