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If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.

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
Nation
Nations
Face
Faces
Future
Cannot
Past

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Every day I'm learning something new from the practice. It's very rewarding.
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Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.
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All the auction houses care about is the selling of luxury goods.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it...it's very disturbing.
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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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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.
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I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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I wouldn’t say I’ve become more radical: I was born radical.
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A city is a place that can offer maximum freedom. Otherwise it’s incomplete.
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Had I to create a name for these times, I’d say it is the age of craziness
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This so-called fame or being better off doesn't really attract me at all.
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By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.
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I don't think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that.
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The [China] government has improved in the last years. Of course, the structure is still the same there's still a one-party system and strong censorship.
Ai Weiwei
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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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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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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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To survive, China had to open up to the West. It could not survive otherwise. This was after many millions have died of hunger in a country that was like North Korea is today. Once we became part of global competition, we had to agree to some rules. It's painful, but we had to. Otherwise there was no way to survive.
Ai Weiwei