I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that’s the true crime.
AI WEIWEIThere’s no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling, to be proud of it.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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They lack any ability to sense what is beautiful or what is proper. They can be learned and skillful, but they lack the ability to make their own free judgment. It is really sad to see young adults of 20, 25 years who were never taught to make their own decisions.
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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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Everything is selected by the central government without good judgment or an understanding of culture to make it really safe. They will become nobody to maintain their power and be raised to the next higher level.
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I don’t think China has professional museums – not in the past, present, or near future.
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Stupidity can win for a moment, but it can never really succeed because the nature of humans is to seek freedom. Rulers can delay that freedom, but they cannot stop it.
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By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.
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To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
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Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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A clear understanding of such differences will help the rest of the world understand China and all that is happening to the nation.
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As a total activity – I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.
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I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That’s the beauty of the Internet Age.
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I’m an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I’m always looking to extend the boundaries.
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Each year, more people want to become artists.
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I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.
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[Cultural department] understand nothing but bureaucratic daily affairs. They don’t care about culture.
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We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.
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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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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.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
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The so-called culture nowadays is only a fake one with a superficial front. It is an empty lie.
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I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years.
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Every day I’m learning something new from the practice. It’s very rewarding.
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After I came back [to China], there was still a long period of time when I felt I had nothing to do.
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If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.
AI WEIWEI