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 WEIWEIA lot of the time [in the U.S.], I was thinking about how spending time is always questionable or is always the biggest obstacle in my life.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That’s the beauty of the Internet Age.
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I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.
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If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.
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I’m just bringing them to Kassel to see the art show, and pay their room and board.
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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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[Therefore] holding a trial outside the court. I think that is fairness, that is justice, that is a civil society. Otherwise call it an evil society because everything is hidden.
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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 lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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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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[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
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We’re different, and you’re dangerous.” That kind of thinking stops human, civilized evolution. It’s dangerous to create that kind of tension.
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Each year, more people want to become artists.
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There’s no such thing as “fixed” culture. China is also becoming more global. Its problems are becoming international problems, becoming German problems, becoming American problems.
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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate [the two] is itself a very political intention.
AI WEIWEI