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If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?

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
Law
Society
Kind
Protects
Civil
Protect
Nobody

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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In the '80s, you couldn't walk in the neighborhood without looking back to see if anyone was following you. You had your key in your hand before you got to your apartment and you'd rush in so you didn't have to stop.
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I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.
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As a human being, member of society, you must clearly state your mind. It's a responsibility. It is the way you identify yourself otherwise you don't know who you are and why you are here.
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That's why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.
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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
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To survive, China had to open up to the West. It could not survive otherwise. This was after many millions have died of hunger in a country that was like North Korea is today. Once we became part of global competition, we had to agree to some rules. It's painful, but we had to. Otherwise there was no way to survive.
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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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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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We are living in a popular culture where everything is overexposed.
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I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.
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In China, we don't have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn't even have a gallery.
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The motivation is really to say people can find the game of getting involved interesting and find the problem and really have the passion and the enthusiasm to solve it and move forward, but that's all I know.
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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.
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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 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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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.
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The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It's as simple as that.
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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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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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Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.
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