[Therefore] holding a trial outside the court. I think that is fairness, that is justice, that is a civil society. Otherwise call it an evil society because everything is hidden.
AI WEIWEIThe fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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A state like China looks so powerful, but they are so scared of the Internet, so the Internet is more powerful than them.
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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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Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
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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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New York has given me a lot, but I still don’t consider it home.
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They lack any ability to sense what is beautiful or what is proper. They can be learned and skillful, but they lack the ability to make their own free judgment. It is really sad to see young adults of 20, 25 years who were never taught to make their own decisions.
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The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned. This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.
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The practice of photography is no longer a means for recording reality. Instead, it has become reality itself
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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
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I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
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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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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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I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
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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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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
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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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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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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.
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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
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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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The whole Chinese system – not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society – is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information.
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Now I’ve come to such a mixed culture: America, Europe, South America, Africa. And the politics are changing everywhere all the time and becoming even more unpredictable.
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I 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.
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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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I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.
AI WEIWEI