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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.

Ai Weiwei

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Ai Weiwei
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 18
Architect
Consultant
Contemporary Artist
Designer
Film Director
Human Rights Activist
Painter
Photographer
Sculptor
Social Activist
Peking
Wei-wei Ai
Weiwei Ai
Ai Wei Wei
Healthy
Forever
Call
Chance
Accountability
Happy
Questioning
Today
Obsessed
Life
Asking
People
Citizens

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.
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Our lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.
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Many people are going to use [Beijing National Stadium], which makes it more meaningful. If we don't design it, somebody else has to design it.
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China seems unpredictable because it has a distinct culture and social system. It is still a mystery to other parts of the world, even though the veil of China has been lifted many times as a result of globalization.
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My work is always a ready-made... cultural, political, or social, and also it could be art - to make people re-look at what we have done, its original position, to create new possibilities.
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If you just turn to your paper or television each day, there are thousands of stories that are much more shocking than the gallery artworks.
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In the '80s, you couldn't walk in the neighborhood without looking back to see if anyone was following you. You had your key in your hand before you got to your apartment and you'd rush in so you didn't have to stop.
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No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate [the two] is itself a very political intention.
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There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
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Whenever there is injustice, there is tension. But in China it is very hard to release your anger unless you burn yourself or you jump from a bridge. In a society where there is no freedom of the press, it is difficult for victims to be noticed.
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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
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A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating.
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Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.
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My angst and my insecurity reflect the state's angst and insecurity. The state is scared too.
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It's always the rich and there's plenty to waste, yet still China has a lot of people living in very spare, poor conditions.
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I never had a sense of home.
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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.
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