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Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.

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
Stories
Desperate
States
Disappointment
Much
Conditions
Joy
Enemy
Growing
State
Family
Experienced

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You see so many people doing quite nice and respectful work, but nobody like Warhol. Warhol is outstanding. I think he has a value that is far from fully understood. He's very special for younger generations.
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I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.
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I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.
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I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
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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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No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy.
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Dictatorship is a story about death of others who turn out to be you coincidently.
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Creativity is the power to act.
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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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A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating.
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Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
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The rest of the world understands little about China's changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
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I don't think China should care if this crazy old guy should have a show here or not. You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it's empty.
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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
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Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China's society is opening.
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