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If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain

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
Every
Life
Vain
Lived
Speech
Single

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.
Ai Weiwei
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China didn't want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul - which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless, I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it's very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.
Ai Weiwei
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Every day I'm learning something new from the practice. It's very rewarding.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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Because Chinese art is booming, it legitimizes this profession.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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The rest of the world understands little about China's changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
Ai Weiwei
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I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.
Ai Weiwei
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
Ai Weiwei
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You're still being looked at as somebody who - it's a very complicated issue.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't think there is a distinct change, because in the West I'm not a person who can serve his purpose.
Ai Weiwei
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The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.
Ai Weiwei
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Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what's on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.
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.
Ai Weiwei
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After I came back [to China], there was still a long period of time when I felt I had nothing to do.
Ai Weiwei
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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
Ai Weiwei