If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.
AI WEIWEII lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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How to become a really modern society when today we are so – as a human being, we feel so powerful. We have high technology and a superb way of controlling our life. And at the same time, in many ways we are so primitive.
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China didn’t want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul – which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless,
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People who can’t do that don’t get a sense of responsibility. And if you lack a sense of responsibility, you push the blame onto the system.
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Everything is selected by the central government without good judgment or an understanding of culture to make it really safe. They will become nobody to maintain their power and be raised to the next higher level.
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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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A small act is worth a million thoughts.
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The whole Chinese system – not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society – is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information.
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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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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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He will still mean danger. Modern technology requires calm. You shouldn’t trust anyone with a car who has no knowledge about vehicles or roads.
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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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It’s like the mountains, the ocean and the rivers. It has its own geological forms. Societies cannot be flat. But during change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we’ll be going backward.
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If I look at it, I would laugh. I don’t know how I became successful.
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Society becomes very destructive.
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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.
AI WEIWEI