In China, we don’t have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn’t even have a gallery.
AI WEIWEIThe United States is a melting pot. Like John F. Kennedy said, it’s a nation of immigrants. But Donald Trump wants to build a fence that clearly makes the statement: “You and I are divided.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Even though everybody who looked at me would call me a Chinese artist, that’s the 1980s. New York in the ’80s was not so interesting.
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Now many enterprises are made by individuals, so the attitude has started to change.
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The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
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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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My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.
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There’s no such thing as “fixed” culture. China is also becoming more global. Its problems are becoming international problems, becoming German problems, becoming American problems.
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You don’t have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.
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That’s why the country can’t face up to open competition – unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.
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The rest of the world understands little about China’s changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
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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.
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Nationality started as something natural, but we should not be restrained by the old politics that make up these clear lines. It should have its own way of evolving. In some places, it will evolve slower and in others, faster.
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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
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Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
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In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.
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If there’s the right condition, I always want to express the concept or ideas in a very independent way.
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Through my work and ways of expression, I strive to engage in dialogue with the society that I am living in.
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Technology is a liberation. I think the information age probably is the best thing to happen to the human race in human evolution.
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I spent a lot of time standing on street corners [of New York City] talking to local residents. I spent time in bookstores and galleries. But most of the time, I really did not have much to do.
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If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
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And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society – the kind of mistreatment society gave him.
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I think to deal with the situation like human crisis, 65 million people being displaced, lost their home, and with such human tragedy, has to make every level of society to be conscious and to be alert about the situation.
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Censorship is saying: “I’m the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.” But the internet is like a tree that is growing.
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We should also leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth; and corrodes mankind’s belief that we can better ourselves.
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To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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I think Donald Trump should cool down a little bit. To pay more attention to the history. To really understand what U.S.’s value is about. I think, as a president, those things you always have to ask.
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