No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.
AI WEIWEIWe literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
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The deadly weapon against totalitarian society is openness – doing everything very openly on the Internet, letting people know every detail, any little development. Once it is out there, everybody can make their own judgement.
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I spend a lot of time talking to journalists.
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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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The intention to separate art from politics is itself a very political intention.
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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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If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is ‘art’ for?
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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When you have strict censorship of the internet, young students cannot receive a full education. Their view of the world is imbalanced. There can be no true discussion of the issues.
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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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The [China] government has improved in the last years. Of course, the structure is still the same; there’s still a one-party system and strong censorship.
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We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.
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If it’s possible, I will have some noodles in the morning and start talking to people, start to think about a few things in my head.
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I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.
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[Cultural departments] don’t care about culture. Maybe they’re the furthest from the people who understand culture.
AI WEIWEI