There’s no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling, to be proud of it.
AI WEIWEIWe are not on – even just a step away from the most brutal and primitive crudity. To be very crude on those issues, which is always challenges and we always have to look at the situation like a mirror, to draw some understanding.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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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.
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Selling high or low doesn’t mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.
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If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
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We grew up in a very material-lacking socialist society, but today China is a capitalist society. It’s very materialistic. It’s full of desire and luxury goods.
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You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
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My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.
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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
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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.
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
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I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.
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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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How to become a really modern society when today we are so – as a human being, we feel so powerful. We have high technology and a superb way of controlling our life. And at the same time, in many ways we are so primitive.
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Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it’s not a product; it’s an understanding of human nature.
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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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I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
AI WEIWEI