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A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.

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
Tragedy
Nation
Nations
Music

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Censorship is saying: I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine. But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
Ai Weiwei
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All the rich people collect traditional Chinese art. So it's very natural for Chinese families to still see art as the highest human performance and send their children to this field.
Ai Weiwei
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If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain
Ai Weiwei
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The museums used to be exhibition halls for government propaganda, and now every city wants to build a museum. A few thousand are to be built in the next few years, all using taxpayer money. But there is no system, no research, no content, no good programs, no good managers.
Ai Weiwei
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Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.
Ai Weiwei
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Liberty is about the right to question everything.
Ai Weiwei
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Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
Ai Weiwei
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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much.
Ai Weiwei
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In China, we don't have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn't even have a gallery.
Ai Weiwei
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I want people to see their own power.
Ai Weiwei
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I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable — how we decide what is valuable.
Ai Weiwei
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I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
Ai Weiwei
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A small act is worth a million thoughts.
Ai Weiwei
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Had I to create a name for these times, I’d say it is the age of craziness
Ai Weiwei
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Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.
Ai Weiwei
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If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
Ai Weiwei
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The fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.
Ai Weiwei
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Maybe [success] is because I'm in China and I'm more open. Maybe it's my independent behavior, or because I participated in certain projects. I have no idea.
Ai Weiwei
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I think it's more important to show your work to the public.
Ai Weiwei
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The society was so different [in China] - it was a feudalistic society. It didn't come to a point of industrial revolution until twenty years ago.
Ai Weiwei