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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
It is better to have a retarded president who respects human values than a clever government without human values.
Contemporary art and the [Communist] Party are an impossible situation. It’s like oil and water—they can never mix.
I cannot ever accept the kind of conditions where you can sacrifice someone’s rights.
Cover-ups and deception are the nature of this society. Without lies it won’t exist.
A city is a place that can offer maximum freedom. Otherwise it’s incomplete.
The population is in a constant state of enforced dislocation. So let us hope that a totally new culture will come out of this.
China [is a] society which forbids any flow of the information and freedom of speech. This is on record, so everybody should know this.
This is something you can never erase. It leaves a scar on you.
They just don’t trust people. They don’t trust individuals, they don’t trust any change that should serve and benefit people, and they try to stop it.
House arrest, travel restrictions, surveillance, stopping phone service, cutting the Internet connection. What we can still do is greet the crazy motherland once again.
A fine line separates Chinese intellectuals and professors from the political gangsters who protect them.
We see plenty of artistic work that reflects superficial social conditions, but very little work that questions fundamental values.
During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
'Why are you so concerned about society?' That is always the question. And my answer is simple: 'Because you are an artist, you have to associate yourself with freedom of expression.'
A society that has no ideals, that discards the principles of humanitarianism, that abandons the fundamental rights and dignity of humanity, can only survive by denying truth, fairness and justice.
I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.
Maybe there is something I got from it. Maybe you also start to be clear on certain things.
They tell us it will be about “emotions” and “friendship,” that it will be a night of joy. Who are they kidding?
But censorship by itself doesn’t work. It is, as Mao said, about the pen and the gun.
Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
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