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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.

Ai Weiwei

I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn’t move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
AI WEIWEI

Alien Illegal Move Moving Visa Back Year
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.
AI WEIWEI

Allowed Border Country Government Public Redefine Sphere
A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
AI WEIWEI

Fairytale Music Nation Tragedy
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.
AI WEIWEI

Crisis Displaced Home Human Lost Million People Situation Strong Thinking Tragedy
We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today’s political leaders are still lacking of the vision.
AI WEIWEI

Lacking Leader Moving Political Sititaion Today Vision
[Cultural departments] don’t care about culture. Maybe they’re the furthest from the people who understand culture.
AI WEIWEI

Care Culture Furthest Maybe People Understand
You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.
AI WEIWEI

Express Expression Need Purpose Yourself
I think you can give meaning to any condition; you can be poor or unsuccessful or be so-called successful. But I don’t think that it would give an individual human being a better condition.
AI WEIWEI

Condition Giving Meaning Poor Successful Thinking Unsuccessful
People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China’s relationship with the outside world.
AI WEIWEI

Country Longing Moment Outside People Relationship Symbolises Turning World
To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It’s a very complicated process to do large projects.
AI WEIWEI

Architecture Ass Bad Badass Bureaucrats Complicated Criticism Involved Society
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.
AI WEIWEI

Deadly Everything Evil Internet Letting Openness People Thinking Weapon
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.
AI WEIWEI

Computer Effort People Technology Understand
I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.
AI WEIWEI

Afraid Given Out People Speak Thinking Totally
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.
AI WEIWEI

Country Culture Fixed Global International More Problem
Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.
AI WEIWEI

Country Director Future Going Moment Outside Priilied Somehow Time
Overturning police cars is a super-intense workout. It’s probably the only sport I enjoy.
AI WEIWEI

Car Enjoy Overturning Police Probably Sport Super-intense Workout

For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.

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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.

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