If I look at it, I would laugh. I don’t know how I became successful.
AI WEIWEI[Being unique] gives so much privilege to people who can make it, rather than having some moral and aesthetic discussions.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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I think it’s more important to show your work to the public.
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If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.
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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.
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If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
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But personally, I don’t think my work and my understanding of art is so much related to being Chinese, but the character of that. Maybe it’s beyond my own consciousness.
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There isn’t a single Chinese university that can invite me to give a talk. Even though I know there are many students who would like to hear what I have to say.
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We 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.
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The project or a few ideas which are not finished or if there are possible directions and what will lead into another game. It’s always like setting up some kind of game you can continuously play.
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The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society’s level of civilization.
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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.
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Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China’s society is opening.
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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.
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Civilization has evolved toward more acceptance, understanding and tolerance of global thinking. If we accept differences, our creativity booms. It makes life much more colorful.
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Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.
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Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don’t think art is elite or mysterious. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics.
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They’ve become part of a conspiracy, collaborators of the crime, which is lying to the general public and trying to hide the kind of criminal acts happening in many cases.
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Society becomes very destructive.
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If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is ‘art’ for?
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China hasn’t only existed for one day. Now, the whole nation has become richer and it’s become a problem. The problem is universal. The factor is big. Everybody has to rethink the balance of the world and the whole landscape.
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To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.
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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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[Cultural departments] don’t care about culture. Maybe they’re the furthest from the people who understand culture.
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The IT people who have made such an effort to know and understand computer technology. They are frustrated that you cannot use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China. They are the first to recognize that the situation is terrible.
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Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
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We’re different, and you’re dangerous.” That kind of thinking stops human, civilized evolution. It’s dangerous to create that kind of tension.
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I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
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