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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

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

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.
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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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No outdoor sports can be more elegant than throwing stones at autocracy no melees can be more exciting than those in cyberspace.
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Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.
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Maybe [success] is because I'm in China and I'm more open. Maybe it's my independent behavior, or because I participated in certain projects. I have no idea.
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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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This so-called fame or being better off doesn't really attract me at all.
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We live in changing times, and many people experience the challenges that come with it. In the face of uncertain futures, no one will know what to expect.
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To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It's a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
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New York has given me a lot, but I still don't consider it home.
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I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it.
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The people who control culture in China have no culture.
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I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
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If I really have nothing to do, I just watch my cats, take some photos, and go back to my personal blog.
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The museums used to be exhibition halls for government propaganda, and now every city wants to build a museum. A few thousand are to be built in the next few years, all using taxpayer money. But there is no system, no research, no content, no good programs, no good managers.
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A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
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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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These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas….In truth, they are heroes of our time.
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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.
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The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It's as simple as that.
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