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I remember one little rainy day I went searching for this apartment and I saw so many people standing on a stoop on the corner in the rain. Later I realized, that was drug traffic. They were all buying drugs.
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
Standing
Buying
Went
Drugs
Stoop
Remember
Corners
Stoops
Littles
Realized
Rainy
Little
Rain
Searching
Many
Later
Traffic
People
Drug
Apartment
Saws
Corner
More quotes by Ai Weiwei
I don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
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I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.
Ai Weiwei
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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The rest of the world understands little about China's changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
Ai Weiwei
If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?
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You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it's necessary or that it's not even worth to do it. It's just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
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I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation.
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The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned. This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.
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A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
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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.
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Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics.
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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 everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it's all we need.
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I don't believe in a sense of home.
Ai Weiwei
Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don't think art is elite or mysterious.
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I also doubt a man can give really clear reasons for anything.
Ai Weiwei
I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it.
Ai Weiwei
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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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.
Ai Weiwei