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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
Mind
Think
Thinking
People
Obligation
Writer
Artist
Today
Everything

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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I don't like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.
Ai Weiwei
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I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.
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.
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Creativity is the power to act.
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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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To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.
Ai Weiwei
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Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what's on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.
Ai Weiwei
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Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.
Ai Weiwei
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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much.
Ai Weiwei
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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
Ai Weiwei
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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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China didn't want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul - which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless, I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
Ai Weiwei
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Society becomes very destructive.
Ai Weiwei
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I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.
Ai Weiwei
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If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain
Ai Weiwei
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Mass production is nothing new. Weren't cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?... Paintings can be painted with the left hand, the right hand, someone else's hand, or many people's hands. The scale of production is irrelevant to its content.
Ai Weiwei
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Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
Ai Weiwei
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The people who control culture in China have no culture.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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The IT people who have made such an effort to know and understand computer technology. They are frustrated that you cannot use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China. They are the first to recognize that the situation is terrible.
Ai Weiwei