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Choices after waking up: To be true or to lie? To take action or be brainwashed? To be free or be jailed?

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
Free
Action
True
Take
Jailed
Brainwashed
Waking
Choices
Lying

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Modern Chinese culture is weak and lackluster.
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That's why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.
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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.
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China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.
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A nation like China has become one of the biggest production fields for exporting cheap labor, which also re-questions our history and past, re-questions human desire, and the human illusions of the past.
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I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it.
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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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My understanding of Chinese history is limited. So far, I have only scratched its surface I wish I could find out more.
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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.
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In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination.
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Whenever there is injustice, there is tension. But in China it is very hard to release your anger unless you burn yourself or you jump from a bridge. In a society where there is no freedom of the press, it is difficult for victims to be noticed.
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The society was so different [in China] - it was a feudalistic society. It didn't come to a point of industrial revolution until twenty years ago.
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In China, we don't have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn't even have a gallery.
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When human beings are scared and feel everything is exposed to the government, we will censor ourselves from free thinking. That's dangerous for human development.
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Warhol came from an ordinary family and he had a profound understanding about capitalism and material culture. He was probably one of the few Western artists - or artists from the United States - that could be considered a true product of his time and brought out that kind of spirit of the culture.
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I never saw [Allen Ginsberg] as some kind of crazy figure.
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There are many cases and layers of racist behavior in the US - from police treatment to the issues of education and job opportunities. In America, however, such cases are being discussed publically.
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If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?
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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.
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