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 WEIWEIEven 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 WEIWEIWarhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work.
AI WEIWEICensorship 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.
AI WEIWEII spend a lot of time talking to journalists.
AI WEIWEIThe American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
AI WEIWEII think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
AI WEIWEII spent a lot of time standing on street corners [of New York City] talking to local residents. I spent time in bookstores and galleries. But most of the time, I really did not have much to do.
AI WEIWEIYou start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
AI WEIWEIOf course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.
AI WEIWEIA state like China looks so powerful, but they are so scared of the Internet, so the Internet is more powerful than them.
AI WEIWEII think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.
AI WEIWEIEven if I have hundreds of things to do, the disconnected feeling is still there because it is very hard to find a real purpose of life.
AI WEIWEII think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.
AI WEIWEIIt’s just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
AI WEIWEIIt’s the place they take you before they give you over to the judicial system. You stay there for a year or two and they make you really suffer to confess everything.
AI WEIWEII don’t like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.
AI WEIWEI