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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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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
Power
States
Feel
Disgusting
Feels
Association
Kind
Personally
Always
Related
Think
State
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Culture

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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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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Liberty is about our rights to question everything.
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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.
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I can still wake up the next day and feel that there's something that needs to be done, which always amuses me.
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I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it.
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China partially wants to become part of the world. By hosting the Olympics and the Expo, they made a big effort to tell people: Look, we are the same. They want to be accepted by the international community.
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The society was so different [in China] - it was a feudalistic society. It didn't come to a point of industrial revolution until twenty years ago.
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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.
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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 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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We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.
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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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If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.
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A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
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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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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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I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it's all we need.
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There is no media freedom in China. As a result, the society is corrupt and lacks productivity. It is unable to adjust itself for progress. This will lead to the country's eventual downfall.
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Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.'
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What is important is that we actively express our thoughts and wishes, in every realm that we can access.
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