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So-called Chinese art and culture is under control of the Party. They exist to serve the official agenda. I call it fake art and culture.

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
Call
Agendas
Party
Officials
Culture
Fake
Art
Chinese
Serve
Exist
Control
Official
Called
Agenda

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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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When I first got into the first-year study after the Cultural Revolution, got into the same school with this group, I wasn't conscious of the so-called Fifth Generation. I didn't like that kind of study condition because there's no real, true education there.
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Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.
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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.
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The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it...it's very disturbing.
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If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.
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I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it.
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For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.
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I will never leave China, unless I am forced to. Because China is mine. I will not leave something that belongs to me in the hands of people I do not trust.
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I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That's the beauty of the Internet Age.
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In my case, I was stuck there for quite a while. New York is large enough to be a very abstract city, so nobody cares.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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Politics is like air and water. And you know if there is bad politics. Everyone is polluted. Everyone is unhealthy. See the people walking on the street: how they act.
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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
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I spent a lot of time standing on street corners [of New York City] talking to local residents. I spent time in bookstores and galleries. But most of the time, I really did not have much to do.
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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Creativity is the power to act.
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