Even though everybody who looked at me would call me a Chinese artist, that’s the 1980s. New York in the ’80s was not so interesting.
AI WEIWEIA 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.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I think I’m just a traveler. When you walk across a river and there’s no bridge, you build one. I’m used to having to deal with Chinese Communist ideology.
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There’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.
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For artists and intellectuals today, what is most needed is to be clear about social responsibility, because that is what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself as an individual is very political.
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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.
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We literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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I wouldn’t say I’ve become more radical: I was born radical.
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For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.
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The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it…it’s very disturbing.
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And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society – the kind of mistreatment society gave him.
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I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
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Otherwise, I think the building can be bigger, larger, and the city can be much more crazy. The problem is the government structure is so deadly stupid, not really solving problems but creating a lot of problems itself every day.
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This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the quality of their lives.
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Censorship is saying: “I’m the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.” But the internet is like a tree that is growing.
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Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.
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