I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
AI WEIWEII think the pearls – one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl – really show a kind of [society] condition.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.
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It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.
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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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I never had secure, belonging feelings with this society [in China].
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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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In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.
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Warhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work.
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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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People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It’s an unbearable condition.
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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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I was in the most restricted prison in China, the most tough. The design of the prison is modeled for internal crimes of the Communist party, so it’s like a mafia family’s law. It’s independent to the law this nation openly applies.
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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 art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.
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I will bring 1,001 Chinese to participate as my artwork there – any Chinese who is a Chinese passport holder and over eighteen years old could apply through my blog.
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I don’t think China should care if this crazy old guy should have a show here or not.
AI WEIWEI