It [success] is really by mistake.
AI WEIWEIIt’s the place they take you before they give you over to the judicial system. You stay there for a year or two and they make you really suffer to confess everything.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern and good intentions.
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Each year, more people want to become artists.
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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.
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I don’t think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn’t be nervous about that.
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Dictatorship is a story about death of others who turn out to be you coincidently.
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I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
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Society becomes very destructive.
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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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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.
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You’re still being looked at as somebody who – it’s a very complicated issue.
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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.
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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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To give a price to an artwork, no matter how high or low, is always absurd. It’s not something that can be measured by money or by certain numbers.
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If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it’s a human need.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
AI WEIWEI