Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.
AI WEIWEIEven if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China’s society is opening.
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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China is at a different stage of development, human rights are violated here much more often. And still, we see improvements even here.
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After I came back [to China], there was still a long period of time when I felt I had nothing 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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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. Art should live in the heart of the people.
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I spend a lot of time talking to journalists.
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This so-called fame or being better off doesn’t really attract me at all.
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The jobs for 7 million university graduates every year, the immense corruption: Even some Western governments would have to scramble to find solutions to such problems.
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I never regret anything.
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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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Even if I have hundreds of things to do, the disconnected feeling is still there because it is very hard to find a real purpose of life.
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A small act is worth a million thoughts.
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The tragic reality of today is reflected in the true plight of our spiritual existence. We are spineless and cannot stand straight.
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I’m totally independent. I don’t bear any responsibility to any system.
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If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain
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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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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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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 have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat.
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I never had secure, belonging feelings with this society [in China].
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I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.
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Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don’t think art is elite or mysterious.
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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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I don’t like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.
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So for too long Americans take liberty as granted. We think we are in the safe hand, the democracy and the liberty, which is not true. And it can be even getting much worse than today.
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I call on people to be ‘obsessed citizens,’ forever questioning and asking for accountability. That’s the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life.
AI WEIWEI