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I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that’s the true crime.

Ai Weiwei

As a total activity – I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.
AI WEIWEI

Activity Architecture Art Living Practice Publishing Together Total Writing
It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
AI WEIWEI

Country Essential Giving People Protect Protecting Society Value
Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
AI WEIWEI

Creativity Human Nature Untaught
The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
AI WEIWEI

Burden Changing Responsibility Shoulder World
We are living in a popular culture where everything is overexposed.
AI WEIWEI

Culture Everything Overexposed Popular Living
I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.
AI WEIWEI

Afraid Given Out People Speak Thinking Totally
Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don’t think art is elite or mysterious. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics.
AI WEIWEI

Ability Anybody Elite Else Mysterious Ordinary People Politics Separate Understand
It’s not really an ideology, but a method of control. But China’s problems are not just China’s problems – they’re human problems. Humanity has always worked better when you see it as one.
AI WEIWEI

Always Control Ideology Country Human One Problem Worked
I don’t think my father had a direct influence on me, but I do think, more or less, I was influenced by his independent individualism.
AI WEIWEI

Direct Father Independent Influence Thinking
We should use this public sphere and redefine – beyond China’s borders – what a government is allowed to do, where its powers end and where the realm of a citizen’s privacy begins.
AI WEIWEI

Allowed Border Country Government Public Redefine Sphere
When human beings are scared and feel everything is exposed to the government, we will censor ourselves from free thinking. That’s dangerous for human development.
AI WEIWEI

Censor Development Everything Exposed Feel Government Ourselves Scared Thinking
I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
AI WEIWEI

Encourage Expressed Idea People Worldview
It’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 WEIWEI

Before Confess Everything Judicial Over Place Stay Suffer System
Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.
AI WEIWEI

Anger Art Equality Express Joy Life Much Separate
[Cultural department] understand nothing but bureaucratic daily affairs. They don’t care about culture.
AI WEIWEI

Affair Care Culture Daily Understand
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.
AI WEIWEI

Cleaned Highly Hole Literally Lived Poet Respected Toilet Underground Yera
Hopefully, other successes aren’t like me. It carries much more meaning to other people; my success story is irrelevant. It doesn’t make any sense.
AI WEIWEI

Carries Hopefully Irrelevant Like More People Stories Story Success Successes
I never had a sense of home.
AI WEIWEI

Home Sense
Had I to create a name for these times, I’d say it is the age of craziness
AI WEIWEI

Age Craziness Create Name Time
In China, we don’t have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn’t even have a gallery.
AI WEIWEI

Ago Art Contemporary Museum Until Year
I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
AI WEIWEI

Act Everyone Government People Pollution Regret Street Unhealthy Walking Weibo
They lack any ability to sense what is beautiful or what is proper. They can be learned and skillful, but they lack the ability to make their own free judgment. It is really sad to see young adults of 20, 25 years who were never taught to make their own decisions.
AI WEIWEI

Ability Adult Beautiful Decision Judgement Lack Learned Proper Skillful Taught Young
Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
AI WEIWEI

Fragile Mean Powerful Recovery
In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.
AI WEIWEI

Deal Democratic Dictatorship Kind Society Totalitarian
Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.
AI WEIWEI

Cities Crazy Destroy Enjoy Much Nostalgic
So for too long Americans take liberty as granted. We think we are in the safe hand, the democracy and the liberty, which is not true. And it can be even getting much worse than today.
AI WEIWEI

Country Democracy Granted Liberty Think Today True Worse
Now I’ve come to such a mixed culture: America, Europe, South America, Africa. And the politics are changing everywhere all the time and becoming even more unpredictable.
AI WEIWEI

Changing Country Culture Politics Problem Unpredictable

I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that’s the true crime.

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I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that’s the true crime.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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