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We should use this public sphere and redefine - beyond China's borders - what a government is allowed to do, where its powers end and where the realm of a citizen's privacy begins.

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
Beyond
Realms
Public
Privacy
Borders
Use
Powers
Redefine
Ends
Begins
Sphere
Government
Allowed
Spheres
China
Realm
Citizens
Citizen

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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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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No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.
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I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.
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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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In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination.
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Everyone of us is a potential convict.
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Society becomes very destructive.
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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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I never had a sense of home.
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Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it's not a product it's an understanding of human nature.
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Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.
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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that.
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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
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The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.
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We move so fast that memory is something we can only grasp
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You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it's necessary or that it's not even worth to do it. It's just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
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Anyone fighting for freedom does not want to totally lose their freedom.
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Our lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.
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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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I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
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