Quote

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

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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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.
Ai Weiwei
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[Cultural department] understand nothing but bureaucratic daily affairs. They don't care about culture.
Ai Weiwei
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Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.
Ai Weiwei
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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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Beijing is constructing a 100,000 m2 modern art museum, yet it will not feature any of my work.
Ai Weiwei
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I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat. I don't care if this is a great cultural event or a national symbol. It has nothing to do with me. It deals with the city.
Ai Weiwei
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To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.
Ai Weiwei
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To experience poetry is to see over and above reality. It is to discover that which is beyond the physical, to experience another life and another level of feeling. It is to wonder about the world, to understand the nature of people and, most importantly, to be shared with another, old or young, known or unknown.
Ai Weiwei
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If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or I am so charming. People feel: This guy is fighting for us.
Ai Weiwei
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To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
Ai Weiwei
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Otherwise, I think the building can be bigger, larger, and the city can be much more crazy. The problem is the government structure is so deadly stupid, not really solving problems but creating a lot of problems itself every day.
Ai Weiwei
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[Museums] all belongs to the cultural department, which is the biggest cultural department in the world.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
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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Through my work and ways of expression, I strive to engage in dialogue with the society that I am living in.
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.
Ai Weiwei
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Now many enterprises are made by individuals, so the attitude has started to change.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
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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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate [the two] is itself a very political intention.
Ai Weiwei