Quote

I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.

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
Everyone
Art
Always
Frame
Code
Design
Open
Secret

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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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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My work is always a ready-made... cultural, political, or social, and also it could be art - to make people re-look at what we have done, its original position, to create new possibilities.
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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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It's always the rich and there's plenty to waste, yet still China has a lot of people living in very spare, poor conditions.
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Selling high or low doesn't mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.
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In an environment without public platform nor protection, the individual is the most powerful and most responsible.
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You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it's necessary or that it's not even worth to do it. It's just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
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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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Life is much more interesting when you make a little bit of effort.
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The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society's level of civilization.
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I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.
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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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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.
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For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.
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Each year, more people want to become artists.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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I often feel more disgust than pride about this kind of success. So there's no regret whatsoever.
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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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The demand for individual freedom leads us to different realms, and it enables us to participate in social events.
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Mass production is nothing new. Weren't cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?... Paintings can be painted with the left hand, the right hand, someone else's hand, or many people's hands. The scale of production is irrelevant to its content.
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