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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
Use
Borders
Ends
Powers
Redefine
Government
Begins
Sphere
Allowed
Spheres
China
Realm
Citizens
Citizen

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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I will never leave China, unless I am forced to. Because China is mine. I will not leave something that belongs to me in the hands of people I do not trust.
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I don't think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that.
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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.
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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.
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Dont retreat. Retweet!
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New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world.
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Many people are going to use [Beijing National Stadium], which makes it more meaningful. If we don't design it, somebody else has to design it.
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Beijing is constructing a 100,000 m2 modern art museum, yet it will not feature any of my work.
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You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.
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I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.
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If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.
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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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Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.
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Creativity is the power to act.
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New York has given me a lot, but I still don't consider it home.
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It's always nice to share your energy with young people, the people who might not have any skills but are simply willing to be a part of it.
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My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.
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I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.
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Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.
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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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