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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.

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
Personal
Society
Success
Believe
Really
Think
Thinking
Structured
Americans

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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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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If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it’s a human need.
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Expressing oneself is like a drug. I'm so addicted to it.
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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it's necessary or that it's not even worth to do it. It's just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
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For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
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Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
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Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don't think art is elite or mysterious.
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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.
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The whole Chinese system - not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society - is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information. That's why the country can't face up to open competition - unless it resorts to measures like North Korea.
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This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
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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.
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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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All movies in China are censored. Out of 600 movies produced in China, only 60 are allowed to show in theatres.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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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.
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I loved New York — every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong — visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.
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I don't believe in the so-called Olympic spirit. I speak from personal experience. When China hosted the Games, it failed to include the people. The event was constructed without regard for their joy.
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What counts in the end is what the government does.
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A small act is worth a million thoughts.
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