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 WEIWEIFor artists and intellectuals today, what is most needed is to be clear about social responsibility, because that is what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself as an individual is very political.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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At the moment about 350,000 students return to China from abroad each year – 350,000 young and educated people. I know about them because they know me and often ask me in the street if they can take a selfie with me.
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Now many enterprises are made by individuals, so the attitude has started to change.
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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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They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things.
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[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
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This is a very general understanding of art in China, that being an artist can make you money and turn you into a star.
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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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The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.
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A nation like China has become one of the biggest production fields for exporting cheap labor, which also re-questions our history and past, re-questions human desire, and the human illusions of the past.
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It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
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For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.
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For those actors and directors who produce films which are always about the old kingdom or about heroes.
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I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
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The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
AI WEIWEI






