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If I look at it, I would laugh. I don't know how I became successful.

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
Laugh
Became
Laughing
Successful
Look
Looks
Would

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella.
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Civilization has evolved toward more acceptance, understanding and tolerance of global thinking. If we accept differences, our creativity booms. It makes life much more colorful. It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.
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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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If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter.
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If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?
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All the rich people collect traditional Chinese art. So it's very natural for Chinese families to still see art as the highest human performance and send their children to this field.
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In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.
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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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Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don't think there's anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.
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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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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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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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My mother became much older when I came out (ed's note: of detention). She had problems with her hearing and high blood pressure. But they still support me.
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We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.
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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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For artists and intellectuals today, what is most needed is to be clear about social responsibility, because that is what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself as an individual is very political. You don't have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.
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Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
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The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
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A city is a place that can offer maximum freedom. Otherwise it’s incomplete.
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I never saw [Allen Ginsberg] as some kind of crazy figure.
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