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A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.

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
Society
Gather
Wish
Consensus
Allows
Everyone
Express
Also
Members
Way
Creativity
Foster
Healthy
Openly
Thoughts
Discuss

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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The society was so different [in China] - it was a feudalistic society. It didn't come to a point of industrial revolution until twenty years ago.
Ai Weiwei
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Chinese government is very clearly losing power in every aspect, but trying to fix up all the problems or potential problems.
Ai Weiwei
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Liberty is about the right to question everything.
Ai Weiwei
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All the rich people collect traditional Chinese art. So it's very natural for Chinese families to still see art as the highest human performance and send their children to this field.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.
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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I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two different sets of judgment.
Ai Weiwei
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I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom
Ai Weiwei
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People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It's an unbearable condition.
Ai Weiwei
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China restricts the society's freedom of speech. The Communist Party imposes these limits because it lacks confidence towards the future and has no ideals. Nowadays, China is experiencing the detrimental effects of such decisions. Its citizens have no creativity.
Ai Weiwei
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I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.
Ai Weiwei
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I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.
Ai Weiwei
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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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The rest of the world understands little about China's changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
Ai Weiwei
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I think it's more important to show your work to the public.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't think my father had a direct influence on me, but I do think, more or less, I was influenced by his independent individualism. And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society - the kind of mistreatment society gave him.
Ai Weiwei
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A lot of the time [in the U.S.], I was thinking about how spending time is always questionable or is always the biggest obstacle in my life.
Ai Weiwei
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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
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I think you can give meaning to any condition you can be poor or unsuccessful or be so-called successful. But I don't think that it would give an individual human being a better condition.
Ai Weiwei