Quote

Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things it is no longer so much about producing something.

Ai Weiwei

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Producing
Longer
Seeing
Artist
Much
Something
Way
Things

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

Image
It's always nice to share your energy with young people, the people who might not have any skills but are simply willing to be a part of it.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society's level of civilization.
Ai Weiwei
Image
If a master, a wise and experienced man, wields a great weapon, that's beautiful. He can serve peace with it. But if someone's emotions are imbalanced, even if he has the best equipment, he will still mean danger. Modern technology requires calm. You shouldn't trust anyone with a car who has no knowledge about vehicles or roads.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Dictatorship is a story about death of others who turn out to be you coincidently.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Creativity is the power to reject the past, to change the status quo, and to seek new potential. Simply put, aside from using one's imagination - perhaps more importantly - creativity is the power to act.
Ai Weiwei
Image
In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.
Ai Weiwei
Image
For artists and intellectuals today, what is most needed is to be clear about social responsibility, because that is what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself as an individual is very political. You don't have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.
Ai Weiwei
Image
There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
Ai Weiwei
Image
China is an old nation with a colourful history. Its booming economy has triggered an appetite and a curiosity around the world for its art and culture, one that continues to grow. I can, however, tell people that it is a show with no actor.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Liberty is about our rights to question everything.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.
Ai Weiwei
Image
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.
Ai Weiwei
Image
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
Image
I never had secure, belonging feelings with this society [in China].
Ai Weiwei
Image
The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That's the beauty of the Internet Age.
Ai Weiwei
Image
My image of what a city should be - the super-rich and all the poor and desperate and the people who have some kind of a desire. It's a surviving game, people trying to survive on many different levels.
Ai Weiwei
Image
China is at a different stage of development, human rights are violated here much more often. And still, we see improvements even here.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.
Ai Weiwei