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Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.

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
Sense
Privileged
Moments
Director
Going
Somehow
Time
China
Like
Directors
Outside
Future
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More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Anyone fighting for freedom does not want to totally lose their freedom.
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Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I'm not nostalgic about the old city. I don't enjoy it that much.
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If I look at it, I would laugh. I don't know how I became successful.
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People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It's an unbearable condition.
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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 don't personally feel any association with a kind of culture related to state, or culture related to power, which I think is always disgusting.
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Even though everybody who looked at me would call me a Chinese artist, that's the 1980s. New York in the '80s was not so interesting. I think it's quite narrow-minded. There wasn't much encouragement or opportunities for any artist - not just Chinese artists.
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China is an old nation with a colourful history. Its booming economy has triggered an appetite and a curiosity around the world for its art and culture, one that continues to grow. I can, however, tell people that it is a show with no actor.
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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.
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Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
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China's culture and history are closely related to my living environment. This country is my birthplace. It is also where I grew up. Its culture and history shape my relations with family, friends, society, and daily life.
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Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.
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I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.
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I never think any place is better than others.
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I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two different sets of judgment.
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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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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.
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I don't believe in a sense of home.
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I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.
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If people are being abused or even killed during an arrest, this is highly disturbing.
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