Quote

A nation like China has become one of the biggest production fields for exporting cheap labor, which also re-questions our history and past, re-questions human desire, and the human illusions of the past.

Ai Weiwei

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Human
Fields
Cheap
Humans
Nation
Production
Like
Nations
Productions
Desire
Biggest
History
China
Past
Illusion
Become
Questions
Exporting
Also
Labor
Illusions

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

Image
Overturning police cars is a super-intense workout. It’s probably the only sport I enjoy.
Ai Weiwei
Image
This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society.
Ai Weiwei
Image
If you just turn to your paper or television each day, there are thousands of stories that are much more shocking than the gallery artworks.
Ai Weiwei
Image
There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
Ai Weiwei
Image
When you have strict censorship of the internet, young students cannot receive a full education. Their view of the world is imbalanced. There can be no true discussion of the issues.
Ai Weiwei
Image
China spends a lot of resources and effort on gaining soft power over culture. The hope is that it can be the last lifeline for the Party's survival. Obviously, the idea will fail.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China's society is opening.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I came back [to Beijing ] because that's the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.
Ai Weiwei
Image
In China, we don't have any contemporary art museums. Until a few years ago, we didn't even have a gallery.
Ai Weiwei
Image
China hasn't only existed for one day. Now, the whole nation has become richer and it's become a problem. The problem is universal. The factor is big. Everybody has to rethink the balance of the world and the whole landscape.
Ai Weiwei
Image
[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I've been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I never had secure, belonging feelings with this society [in China].
Ai Weiwei
Image
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.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
Ai Weiwei
Image
For all the tough talk about China during the presidential debates, Romney and Obama evaded any mention of China's suspect human rights record, corruption, and rule of law. By not tackling these controversial topics, the candidates are protecting a strategic partnership with China at the expense of essential human values and beliefs.
Ai Weiwei
Image
It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.
Ai Weiwei
Image
You're still being looked at as somebody who - it's a very complicated issue.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Everything is selected by the central government without good judgment or an understanding of culture to make it really safe. They will become nobody to maintain their power and be raised to the next higher level.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it...it's very disturbing.
Ai Weiwei