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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.

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
Called
Society
Art
Form
Contemporary
Philosophy

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.
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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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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall.
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The practice of photography is no longer a means for recording reality. Instead, it has become reality itself
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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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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Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics.
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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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No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy.
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Liberty is about the right to question everything.
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Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China's society is opening.
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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who's like a child.
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Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.
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We should use this public sphere and redefine - beyond China's borders - what a government is allowed to do, where its powers end and where the realm of a citizen's privacy begins.
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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?
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There is no media freedom in China. As a result, the society is corrupt and lacks productivity. It is unable to adjust itself for progress. This will lead to the country's eventual downfall.
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If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or I am so charming. People feel: This guy is fighting for us.
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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.
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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.
Ai Weiwei
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You see so many people doing quite nice and respectful work, but nobody like Warhol. Warhol is outstanding. I think he has a value that is far from fully understood. He's very special for younger generations.
Ai Weiwei