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Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.

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
Firsts
Barely
Human
Treated
Humans
Ordinary
First
Behinds
Country
Deal
Every
Behind
Always
Deals
People
Political
Casualties

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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.
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I remember one little rainy day I went searching for this apartment and I saw so many people standing on a stoop on the corner in the rain. Later I realized, that was drug traffic. They were all buying drugs.
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I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.
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Artists are the worst [people]. They are selfish, self-centred they don't care what happens.
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Each year, more people want to become artists.
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To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.
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Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
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If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?
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My childhood was quite extreme. Sometimes I was so weak I could not stand up. But now I am so strong. Life is unpredictable
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I saw [Allen Ginsberg] more as an old man who liked poetry and who had a lot of physical and emotional problems. We liked our time together.
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I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that.
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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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Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
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I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it.
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