Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.
AI WEIWEIThe 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.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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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.
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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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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.
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I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That’s the beauty of the Internet Age.
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As long as I can communicate, I’m not so lonely. If I cannot travel, or do art, or have company, if they take away all my belongings, it doesn’t matter at all.
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Now you have the equal opportunity to equip yourself through information and knowledge and express yourself as an independent mind.
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I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
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People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China’s relationship with the outside world.
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It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
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I don’t think China should care if this crazy old guy should have a show here or not.
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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.
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Otherwise, I think the building can be bigger, larger, and the city can be much more crazy. The problem is the government structure is so deadly stupid, not really solving problems but creating a lot of problems itself every day.
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that. There are crises and emergencies all the time, we might not even be aware of some. But I am afraid we’ll have to wait and observe precisely what the government is up to.
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A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
AI WEIWEI