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I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.

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
Really
Never
Life
Expression
Silence
Respect
Free
Part

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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I’m an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I’m always looking to extend the boundaries.
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[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I've been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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I want people to see their own power.
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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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The motivation is really to say people can find the game of getting involved interesting and find the problem and really have the passion and the enthusiasm to solve it and move forward, but that's all I know.
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I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
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I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that's the true crime.
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I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
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Selling high or low doesn't mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.
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I don't think China should care if this crazy old guy should have a show here or not. You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it's empty.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.
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Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella.
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China didn't want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul - which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless, I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
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Chinese government is very clearly losing power in every aspect, but trying to fix up all the problems or potential problems.
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
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I think Donald Trump should cool down a little bit. To pay more attention to the history. To really understand what U.S.'s value is about. I think, as a president, those things you always have to ask.
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I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
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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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