I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn’t move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
AI WEIWEII 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.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
-
-
The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society’s level of civilization.
AI WEIWEI -
Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
AI WEIWEI -
The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
AI WEIWEI -
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 -
Liberty is about the right to question everything.
AI WEIWEI -
New York has given me a lot, but I still don’t consider it home.
AI WEIWEI -
I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.
AI WEIWEI -
This is a very general understanding of art in China, that being an artist can make you money and turn you into a star.
AI WEIWEI -
People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China’s relationship with the outside world.
AI WEIWEI -
The intention to separate art from politics is itself a very political intention.
AI WEIWEI -
The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
AI WEIWEI -
For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
AI WEIWEI -
I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
AI WEIWEI -
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 -
In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.
AI WEIWEI