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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.

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
Cities
Abstract
Quite
Stuck
Care
Large
Enough
Case
York
City
Nobody
Cases
Cares

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.
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Art needs to stand for something.
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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.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.
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The practice of photography is no longer a means for recording reality. Instead, it has become reality itself
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The so-called culture nowadays is only a fake one with a superficial front. It is an empty lie.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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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.
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I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.
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I don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
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Society becomes very destructive.
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What is important is that we actively express our thoughts and wishes, in every realm that we can access.
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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.
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We live in changing times, and many people experience the challenges that come with it. In the face of uncertain futures, no one will know what to expect.
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The purpose of art is the fight for freedom.
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Because Chinese art is booming, it legitimizes this profession.
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It's always the rich and there's plenty to waste, yet still China has a lot of people living in very spare, poor conditions.
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Many people are going to use [Beijing National Stadium], which makes it more meaningful. If we don't design it, somebody else has to design it.
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I never had secure, belonging feelings with this society [in China].
Ai Weiwei