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Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.'

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
Nations
Faster
Slogans
Values
Easily
Olympic
Sportsmen
Nature
China
Adapted
Sportsman
Cannot
Stronger
Historically
Slogan
Close
Emphasis
Excel
Nation
Contemplation
Traditionally
Higher
Pushing
Tranquil
Philosophy
Landscape
Endlessly

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?
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If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or I am so charming. People feel: This guy is fighting for us.
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Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
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To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It's a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
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A lot of the time [in the U.S.], I was thinking about how spending time is always questionable or is always the biggest obstacle in my life.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
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I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.
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Just look at the statistics: Each university has tens of thousands of applications for students who want to be in art school, but they can only accept a few hundred.
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The whole Chinese system - not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society - is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information. That's why the country can't face up to open competition - unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.
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My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.
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I don't think my father had a direct influence on me, but I do think, more or less, I was influenced by his independent individualism. And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society - the kind of mistreatment society gave him.
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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who's like a child.
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Otherwise, I think the building can be bigger, larger, and the city can be much more crazy. The problem is the government structure is so deadly stupid, not really solving problems but creating a lot of problems itself every day.
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I never think any place is better than others.
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I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.
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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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A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.
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Warhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work.
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Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.
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