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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

I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years.
AI WEIWEI

Citizen Father Party Pushed Writer Writing Young
It’s like the mountains, the ocean and the rivers. It has its own geological forms. Societies cannot be flat. But during change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we’ll be going backward.
AI WEIWEI

Backward Form Geographical Human Mountain Ocean Protected Right Speech
China restricts the society’s freedom of speech. The Communist Party imposes these limits because it lacks confidence towards the future and has no ideals.
AI WEIWEI

Communist Confidence Creativity Decision Freedom Imposes Lack Limit Party Speech
I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
AI WEIWEI

Artist Expression Extend Freedom Power Responsibility Thinking
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

Design Make Meaningful People Use
Just look at the statistics: Each university has tens of thousands of applications for students who want to be in art school, but they can only accept a few hundred.
AI WEIWEI

Application Art Look School Statistic Student Ten Thousand
If people are being abused or even killed during an arrest, this is highly disturbing.
AI WEIWEI

Abused Arrest Disturbing During High Killed People
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
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
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

Crush Discussion Except Negotiation People Power Time Want
I will bring 1,001 Chinese to participate as my artwork there – any Chinese who is a Chinese passport holder and over eighteen years old could apply through my blog.
AI WEIWEI

Apply Artwork Blog Country Participated Passport
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
[Museums] all belongs to the cultural department, which is the biggest cultural department in the world.
AI WEIWEI

Belong Biggest Cultural Department Museums World
I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable – how we decide what is valuable.
AI WEIWEI

Decide Looks New Shattering Thinking Valuable Way
I never regret anything.
AI WEIWEI

Anything never Regret
…photographs are facts, but not necessarily true… The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.
AI WEIWEI

Always Care Past Photograph Present Surpasses Today True
I’m doing quite a few things now. In one day, I will go to Kassel, Germany, for a documentary project I’ve been preparing for half a year.
AI WEIWEI

Art Chinese Country Documentary Few Prepared Project Quite Thing Year
The rest of the world understands little about China’s changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
AI WEIWEI

Country Crises Little Possibility Rest Understand World
If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is ‘art’ for?
AI WEIWEI

Art Nothing Pain People Sorrow
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 WEIWEI

Artwork Feeling Proud Relly Single Think Thinking Want
My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall.
AI WEIWEI

Art Communication Definition Expression Freedom Sound Wall Way
To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.
AI WEIWEI

Country Critical Dangerous Figure Government Media Symbolic
My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.
AI WEIWEI

Appreciate Typical Wake Up
Everyone of us is a potential convict.
AI WEIWEI

Convict Everyone Potential
I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.
AI WEIWEI

Beautiful Called Craftsmanship Interested Material Mean Perfect Useless
You’re still being looked at as somebody who – it’s a very complicated issue.
AI WEIWEI

Complicated Issue Looked Somebody Still
The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China’s future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state.
AI WEIWEI

Children Country Future Issue Job Know Leadership Mean Solve

Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.

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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.

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Popular Authors

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