That’s why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.
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.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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As a human being, member of society, you must clearly state your mind. It’s a responsibility. It is the way you identify yourself otherwise you don’t know who you are and why you are here.
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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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I loved New York — every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong — visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.
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Any individual can contribute its own belief. And our society or even our government are made by the people. The people would have the final voice, but it requires each individual to act. If we don’t act, then the result is very clear.
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It is to wonder about the world, to understand the nature of people and, most importantly, to be shared with another, old or young, known or unknown.
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Overturning police cars is a super-intense workout. It’s probably the only sport I enjoy.
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I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable – how we decide what is valuable.
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They’ve become part of a conspiracy, collaborators of the crime, which is lying to the general public and trying to hide the kind of criminal acts happening in many cases.
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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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The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China’s future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state.
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What is important is that we actively express our thoughts and wishes, in every realm that we can access.
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If people are being abused or even killed during an arrest, this is highly disturbing.
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[Cultural departments] don’t care about culture. Maybe they’re the furthest from the people who understand culture.
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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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This so-called fame or being better off doesn’t really attract me at all.
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Even today the borders they’re seeing the physical borders are very different from the political borders. Because all those powers are so connected, and you cannot even see whose interest in what move.
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We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today’s political leaders are still lacking of the vision.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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Dictatorship is a story about death of others who turn out to be you coincidently.
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I don’t think I was very structured in that society and I don’t really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
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A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.
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I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.
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[Museums] all belongs to the cultural department, which is the biggest cultural department in the world.
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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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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.
AI WEIWEI