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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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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
Thinking
People
Obligation
Writer
Artist
Today
Everything
Mind
Think

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Because Chinese art is booming, it legitimizes this profession.
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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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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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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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If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?
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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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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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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 am everywhere and I am nowhere. That's the beauty of the Internet Age.
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To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
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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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The United States is a melting pot. Like John F. Kennedy said, it's a nation of immigrants. But Donald Trump wants to build a fence that clearly makes the statement: You and I are divided. We're different, and you're dangerous. That kind of thinking stops human, civilized evolution. It's dangerous to create that kind of tension.
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It [success] is really by mistake.
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Civilization has evolved toward more acceptance, understanding and tolerance of global thinking. If we accept differences, our creativity booms. It makes life much more colorful. It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.
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I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.
Ai Weiwei
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Twitter is the people’s tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources.
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After I came back [to China], there was still a long period of time when I felt I had nothing to do.
Ai Weiwei
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Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don't think there's anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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I don't think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that.
Ai Weiwei