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For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.

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
Express
Heart
Long
Pumping
Breathe

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Everything is selected by the central government without good judgment or an understanding of culture to make it really safe. They will become nobody to maintain their power and be raised to the next higher level.
Ai Weiwei
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Overturning police cars is a super-intense workout. It’s probably the only sport I enjoy.
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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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Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.
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China hasn't only existed for one day. Now, the whole nation has become richer and it's become a problem. The problem is universal. The factor is big. Everybody has to rethink the balance of the world and the whole landscape.
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If you just turn to your paper or television each day, there are thousands of stories that are much more shocking than the gallery artworks.
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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
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We move so fast that memory is something we can only grasp
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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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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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The biggest obstacle in interacting with China is the difference in perspectives about basic values. These include issues such as human rights, the concept of law and constitution.
Ai Weiwei
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If it's possible, I will have some noodles in the morning and start talking to people, start to think about a few things in my head - the project or a few ideas which are not finished or if there are possible directions and what will lead into another game. It's always like setting up some kind of game you can continuously play.
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I'm not a writer, but today I think you have to be everything. As an artist you have an obligation to let people know what is on your mind and why you're doing this.
Ai Weiwei
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Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.
Ai Weiwei
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I loved New York — every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong — visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.
Ai Weiwei
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I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
Ai Weiwei
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I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.
Ai Weiwei
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China has not established the rule of law and if there is a power above the law there is no social justice. Everybody can be subjected to harm. I'm just a citizen: my life is equal in value to any other. But I'm thankful that when I lost my freedom so many people shared feelings and put such touching effort into helping me.
Ai Weiwei
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I'm a free man now, except I cannot leave China. You know, I have no desire to travel. I have so many things to do I cannot finish them now.
Ai Weiwei