Quote

I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.

Ai Weiwei

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Couldn
Move
Moving
Back
Visa
Many
Alien
Even
Aliens
Years
Illegal
Moved

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

Image
I suddenly realized I was getting ten opening notes a day on my mobile phone, more than when I was in New York. But this is China, where nothing is surprising.
Ai Weiwei
Image
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
Image
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
Image
I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Even if I have hundreds of things to do, the disconnected feeling is still there because it is very hard to find a real purpose of life.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I don't think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Recently I danced in a video spoof of the song 'Gangnam Style,' and it was quickly banned across multiple Chinese online video platforms. But the story still traveled all over the world, carried in hundreds of international media reports.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Now many enterprises are made by individuals, so the attitude has started to change.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.
Ai Weiwei
Image
A nation like China has become one of the biggest production fields for exporting cheap labor, which also re-questions our history and past, re-questions human desire, and the human illusions of the past.
Ai Weiwei
Image
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
Image
I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Anyone fighting for freedom does not want to totally lose their freedom.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The people who control culture in China have no culture.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I think Donald Trump should cool down a little bit. To pay more attention to the history. To really understand what U.S.'s value is about. I think, as a president, those things you always have to ask.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The IT people who have made such an effort to know and understand computer technology. They are frustrated that you cannot use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China. They are the first to recognize that the situation is terrible.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I came back [to Beijing ] because that's the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.
Ai Weiwei