We literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet.
AI WEIWEIWe 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.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Every day I’m learning something new from the practice. It’s very rewarding.
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What is important is that we actively express our thoughts and wishes, in every realm that we can access.
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Now you have the equal opportunity to equip yourself through information and knowledge and express yourself as an independent mind.
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Nationality started as something natural, but we should not be restrained by the old politics that make up these clear lines. It should have its own way of evolving. In some places, it will evolve slower and in others, faster.
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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
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In my case, I was stuck there for quite a while. New York is large enough to be a very abstract city, so nobody cares.
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I want people to see their own power.
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It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.
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Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.
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Today, we jump into this globalization of the economy and the internet age.
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If it’s possible, I will have some noodles in the morning and start talking to people, start to think about a few things in my head.
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That’s why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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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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I don’t want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did.
AI WEIWEI