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Politics is like air and water. And you know if there is bad politics. Everyone is polluted. Everyone is unhealthy. See the people walking on the street: how they act.

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
Water
Everyone
Polluted
Like
Unhealthy
People
Street
Air
Walking
Streets
Politics

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Any politician who respects China's government should tell it openly what is in his heart. It is disrespectful to keep quiet about such issues - both vis-a-vis the government and the people concerned.
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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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You're still being looked at as somebody who - it's a very complicated issue.
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I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time β€” this massiveness made of individuals.
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Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.
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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that. There are crises and emergencies all the time, we might not even be aware of some. But I am afraid we'll have to wait and observe precisely what the government is up to.
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Everything is art. Everything is politics.
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I suddenly realized I was getting ten opening notes a day on my mobile phone, more than when I was in New York. But this is China, where nothing is surprising.
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Beijing is constructing a 100,000 m2 modern art museum, yet it will not feature any of my work.
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I loved New York β€” every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong β€” visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.
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To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It's a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
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Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.
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Creativity is the power to act.
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New York was not a romantic city at [80th]. Nobody knows who you are and you don't have to care about anybody else. It's a very cold city, I should say.
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I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
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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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I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it's all we need.
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Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.
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Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.
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