[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
AI WEIWEIIf there’s the right condition, I always want to express the concept or ideas in a very independent way.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
-
-
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 WEIWEI -
A state like China looks so powerful, but they are so scared of the Internet, so the Internet is more powerful than them.
AI WEIWEI -
Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
AI WEIWEI -
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.
AI WEIWEI -
I call on people to be ‘obsessed citizens,’ forever questioning and asking for accountability. That’s the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life.
AI WEIWEI -
The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
AI WEIWEI -
[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.
AI WEIWEI -
If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
AI WEIWEI -
In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.
AI WEIWEI -
For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
AI WEIWEI -
I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.
AI WEIWEI -
Many people are going to use [Beijing National Stadium], which makes it more meaningful. If we don’t design it, somebody else has to design it.
AI WEIWEI -
To give a price to an artwork, no matter how high or low, is always absurd. It’s not something that can be measured by money or by certain numbers.
AI WEIWEI -
In the end, I think, the state’s rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.
AI WEIWEI -
The importance of elections, transparency, legal procedures, an independent army, and the judicial system is not regarded as highly in China. These core values are the most important evidence of the health of a society, quality of life, and security.
AI WEIWEI






