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This is a very general understanding of art in China, that being an artist can make you money and turn you into a star.

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
Make
General
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Stars
Understanding
Turns
Artist
Art
Star
Money
China

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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A small act is worth a million thoughts.
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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who's like a child.
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I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable — how we decide what is valuable.
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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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I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
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To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It's a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
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I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
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If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?
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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.
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The [China] government has improved in the last years. Of course, the structure is still the same there's still a one-party system and strong censorship.
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You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it's necessary or that it's not even worth to do it. It's just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
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No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.
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I don't like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.
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New York was not a romantic city at [80th]. Nobody knows who you are and you don't have to care about anybody else. It's a very cold city, I should say.
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I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.
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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 artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
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As a total activity - I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.
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