If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
AI WEIWEIThe American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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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.
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I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.
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Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?
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I don’t personally feel any association with a kind of culture related to state, or culture related to power, which I think is always disgusting.
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Had I to create a name for these times, I’d say it is the age of craziness
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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that.
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Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market.
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Stupidity can win for a moment, but it can never really succeed because the nature of humans is to seek freedom. Rulers can delay that freedom, but they cannot stop it.
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I think Donald Trump should cool down a little bit. To pay more attention to the history. To really understand what U.S.’s value is about. I think, as a president, those things you always have to ask.
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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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The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
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If there’s the right condition, I always want to express the concept or ideas in a very independent way.
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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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In China, we don’t have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn’t even have a gallery.
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A clear understanding of such differences will help the rest of the world understand China and all that is happening to the nation.
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