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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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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
Much
Nostalgic
Destroy
Build
City
Cities
Crazy
Enjoy

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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China is at a different stage of development, human rights are violated here much more often. And still, we see improvements even here.
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I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it.
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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 don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
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Creativity is the power to reject the past, to change the status quo, and to seek new potential. Simply put, aside from using one's imagination - perhaps more importantly - creativity is the power to act.
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I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That's the beauty of the Internet Age.
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I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two different sets of judgment.
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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
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As a human being, member of society, you must clearly state your mind. It's a responsibility. It is the way you identify yourself otherwise you don't know who you are and why you are here.
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I never think any place is better than others.
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I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
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I don’t want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did.
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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.
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We should also leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth and corrodes mankind's belief that we can better ourselves. The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern and good intentions.
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The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned. This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.
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My work is always a ready-made... cultural, political, or social, and also it could be art - to make people re-look at what we have done, its original position, to create new possibilities.
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The demand for individual freedom leads us to different realms, and it enables us to participate in social events.
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Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don't think art is elite or mysterious.
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I spent a lot of time standing on street corners [of New York City] talking to local residents. I spent time in bookstores and galleries. But most of the time, I really did not have much to do.
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I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.
Ai Weiwei