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We grew up in a very material-lacking socialist society, but today China is a capitalist society. It's very materialistic. It's full of desire and luxury goods.

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
Material
China
Materials
Materialistic
Grew
Lacking
Full
Socialist
Society
Capitalist
Desire
Goods
Today
Luxury

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In an environment without public platform nor protection, the individual is the most powerful and most responsible.
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Mass production is nothing new. Weren't cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?... Paintings can be painted with the left hand, the right hand, someone else's hand, or many people's hands. The scale of production is irrelevant to its content.
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The whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.
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Life is much more interesting when you make a little bit of effort.
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Once you've tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and no one can take it. Then, you can be more powerful than a whole country.
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So-called Chinese art and culture is under control of the Party. They exist to serve the official agenda. I call it fake art and culture.
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If a master, a wise and experienced man, wields a great weapon, that's beautiful. He can serve peace with it. But if someone's emotions are imbalanced, even if he has the best equipment, he will still mean danger. Modern technology requires calm. You shouldn't trust anyone with a car who has no knowledge about vehicles or roads.
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Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.
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There's no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling, to be proud of it.
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I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom
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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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A small act is worth a million thoughts.
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I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
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I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable — how we decide what is valuable.
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Imagine one day, the hateful world around you collapses. And it is your attitude, words and actions that put an end to it. Will you be excited?
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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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Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.
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In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.
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China restricts the society's freedom of speech. The Communist Party imposes these limits because it lacks confidence towards the future and has no ideals. Nowadays, China is experiencing the detrimental effects of such decisions. Its citizens have no creativity.
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Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.
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