To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It’s a very complicated process to do large projects.
AI WEIWEIOnce you’ve tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and no one can take it. Then, you can be more powerful than a whole country.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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It’s really rubbish that some kind of “technical” learning means you will be a better person because you know this skill better.
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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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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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 lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
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The museums used to be exhibition halls for government propaganda, and now every city wants to build a museum.
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
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Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?
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I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
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To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
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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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I think U.S. and China is a big opportunity, to be seen as partner or some kind of strategic partner maybe. But those kind of powers have a way of getting too big, then we’ll have competition.
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I came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.
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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.
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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.
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The fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.
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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.
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As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am.
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I think the pearls – one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl – really show a kind of [society] condition.
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I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.
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Imagine one day, the hateful world around you collapses. And it is your attitude, words and actions that put an end to it. Will you be excited?
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You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it’s necessary or that it’s not even worth to do it.
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Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.
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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.
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If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
AI WEIWEI