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I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.

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
Different
Publishing
Things
Architecture
People
Photography
Works
Design
Working
Art
Together
Installation

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
Ai Weiwei
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In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
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.
Ai Weiwei
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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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A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.
Ai Weiwei
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I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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China didn't want to lose the cutting edge of technology. So the idea of having a Sina Weibo was an attempt to compete with Twitter. However, it has no soul - which is freedom of expression. Nevertheless, I think the government regrets having Sina Weibo, but they cannot shut it down. That would definitely be suicidal.
Ai Weiwei
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Selling high or low doesn't mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.
Ai Weiwei
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Our lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.
Ai Weiwei
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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
Ai Weiwei
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Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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Any politician who respects China's government should tell it openly what is in his heart. It is disrespectful to keep quiet about such issues - both vis-a-vis the government and the people concerned.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei
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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.
Ai Weiwei