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Ai Weiwei Quotes
born 1957 China
Ai Weiwei (Chinese: 艾未未; born 1957 in Beijing) is a leading Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator and activist.
Random Ai Weiwei quote
164 quotes
This does not mean a meteor has fallen. This is the discovery of a star.
The government computer has one button: delete.
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.
Writers, artists, and commentators on websites are detained or thrown into jail when they reflect on democracy, opening up, reform and reason. This is the reality of China.
I think restrictions are an essential condition in the fight for freedom of expression. It’s also a source for any kind of creativity.
If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter.
The world is a sphere, there is no East or West.
It’s never about me. [My supporters] use me as a mark for themselves to recognize their own form of life: I become their medium. I am always very clear about that.
Very few people know why art sells so high. I don’t even know.
The individual under this kind of life, with no rights, has absolutely no power in this land. How can they even ask you for creativity? Or imagination, or courage or passion?
The Chinese authorities think of artists as prostitutes. And in reality it’s true: in the Communist system artists just represent what the power structure seeks them to represent. It is prostitution.
The Internet changes the structure of society all the time—this massiveness made of individuals.
Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
They have to have an enemy. They have to create you as their enemy in order for them to continue their existence. It’s very ironic.
"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."
Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.
If there is one who’s not free, then I am not free. If there is one who suffers, then I suffer.
My activism is a part of me. If my art has anything to do with me, then my activism is part of my art.
One of the reasons religions are widely accepted is spiritual laziness and its resulting fear.
A land that rejects the truth, barricades itself against change and lacks the spirit of freedom is hopeless.
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