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China partially wants to become part of the world. By hosting the Olympics and the Expo, they made a big effort to tell people: Look, we are the same. They want to be accepted by the international community.

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
Made
Effort
World
Community
Hosting
People
Bigs
Partially
Tell
Olympics
Become
Accepted
Part
China
Look
International
Looks
Wants

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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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 whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.
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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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Dictatorship is a story about death of others who turn out to be you coincidently.
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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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'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.
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
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Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
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I can still wake up the next day and feel that there's something that needs to be done, which always amuses me.
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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
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[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I've been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
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As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am. As long as I can communicate, I'm not so lonely. If I cannot travel, or do art, or have company, if they take away all my belongings, it doesn't matter at all.
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We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.
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Liberty is about our rights to question everything.
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Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.
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