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Each year, more people want to become artists.

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
Year
Artist
Become
Years
People
Artists

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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There's no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling, to be proud of it.
Ai Weiwei
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I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it's very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.
Ai Weiwei
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If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.
Ai Weiwei
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Censorship is saying: I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine. But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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The whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.
Ai Weiwei
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If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?
Ai Weiwei
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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It doesn't matter where I am - China will stay in me. I don't know how far I can still walk on this road and what is the limit.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't think there is a distinct change, because in the West I'm not a person who can serve his purpose.
Ai Weiwei
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I'm a free man now, except I cannot leave China. You know, I have no desire to travel. I have so many things to do I cannot finish them now.
Ai Weiwei
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I wouldn’t say I’ve become more radical: I was born radical.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation.
Ai Weiwei
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This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years. People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China's relationship with the outside world.
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.
Ai Weiwei
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Creativity is the power to reject the past, to change the status quo, and to seek new potential. Simply put, aside from using one's imagination - perhaps more importantly - creativity is the power to act.
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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If a master, a wise and experienced man, wields a great weapon, that's beautiful. He can serve peace with it. But if someone's emotions are imbalanced, even if he has the best equipment, he will still mean danger. Modern technology requires calm. You shouldn't trust anyone with a car who has no knowledge about vehicles or roads.
Ai Weiwei