These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas….In truth, they are heroes of our time.
AI WEIWEIArt should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don’t think art is elite or mysterious.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it’s not a product; it’s an understanding of human nature.
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China hasn’t only existed for one day. Now, the whole nation has become richer and it’s become a problem. The problem is universal. The factor is big. Everybody has to rethink the balance of the world and the whole landscape.
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I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That’s the beauty of the Internet Age.
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That’s why the country can’t face up to open competition – unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.
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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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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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I don’t think China has professional museums – not in the past, present, or near future.
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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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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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Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?
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I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.
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If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is ‘art’ for?
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I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn’t move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
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The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
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Politics is like air and water. And you know if there is bad politics. Everyone is polluted. Everyone is unhealthy. See the people walking on the street: how they act.
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We should also leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth; and corrodes mankind’s belief that we can better ourselves.
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I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
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The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
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I never think any place is better than others.
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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.
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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.
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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.
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Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
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I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat.
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People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China’s relationship with the outside world.
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Of course, people will call you an old artist or young artist, which is just a character of you.
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