Ai Weiwei: Trending quotes (page 9)

“I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei Does Not Feel Powerful, 2011

Art , Imagination , Idea , Thinking

“Three years after the CCTV headquarters fire [in Beijing in February 2009], human skeletons lie forgotten. Is anyone accountable?”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei on Twitter in English (beta). (February 26, 2012) http://aiwwenglish.tumblr.com/
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12

Lie

“To me, to be political means you associate your work with a larger number of people’s living conditions, and that includes both mental and physical conditions. And you try to use your work to affect the situation.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Escape from Propaganda, 2009

People

“Tax crimes should be investigated by the tax bureau, not through secret police detention.”

Ai Weiwei

“ At home: Ai Weiwei http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/6fdcaae6-5959-11e1-abf1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nQPAYr26..” Financial Times, February 24, 2012.
2010-, 2012

Secret

“I think restrictions are an essential condition in the fight for freedom of expression. It’s also a source for any kind of creativity.”

Ai Weiwei

Solway, Diane. “Enforced Disappearance.” W Magazine, November 2011.
2010-, 2011

Thinking , Freedom , Fight

“The officials want China to be seen as a cultured, creative nation, but in this anti-liberal political society everything outside the direct control of the state is seen as a potential threat.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, China’s ‘Mozart’ Drops Off State Hit Parade, 2010

“Cover-ups and deception are the nature of this society. Without lies it won’t exist.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Our Duty Is to Remember Sichuan, 2009

Nature

“Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what’s on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, The Bold and the Beautiful, 2009

Learning

“A fine line separates Chinese intellectuals and professors from the political gangsters who protect them.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, A Kind of True Living, 2007

“The most unfair things that could have happened in a society fell upon a blind man. This is something that no one can accept or explain away with any excuse. Everyone will ask: 'Do we actually have to exist in a society like this?”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei Says Blind Dissident’s Escape Will Inspire Chinese, 2012

“I think we have too much history. It’s not so important. I think people should have fun and enjoy their own time. I haven’t done much, so why should I waste people’s memory?”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

People , History , Thinking , Memory

“We see plenty of artistic work that reflects superficial social conditions, but very little work that questions fundamental values.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

Question

“Every day I think, this will be the day I get taken in again....”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: 'Every day I think, this will be the day I get taken in again...', 2011

Thinking

“Why are you so concerned about society?' That is always the question. And my answer is simple: 'Because you are an artist, you have to associate yourself with freedom of expression.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2009

Question , Freedom

“My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall. 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. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate art from politics is itself a very political intention.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011

People , Art , Way , Communication

“As an artist, I am very familiar with how to show the details, how to transform them into a language people can understand. They [the government] know that the Internet is a strong force, unbearable for them.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011

People , Understanding , Strong

“It doesn’t matter where I am—China will stay in me. I don’t know how far I can still walk on this road and what is the limit.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011

“There is no revolution like the Communist revolution. You simply burn all the books, kill all of the thinking people and use the poor proletariat to create a very simple benchmark to gauge social change.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

People , Books , Thinking , Gauge

“The Sichuan disaster is not the first nor the most wrongful. But all the details of this tragedy will be forgotten, and once again it will be like nothing ever happened. Eventually all these disasters will together create a bizarre miracle called civilization and evolution.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Our Duty Is to Remember Sichuan, 2009

“I spend very little time just doing '“art as art.'”

Ai Weiwei

Jones, Alice. “ Ten People Who Changed the World: Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist, Became a Truly Global Force http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/ten-people-who-changed-the-world-ai-weiwei-chinese-artist-became-a-truly-global-force-6282327.html.” Independent, December 31, 2011.
2010-, 2011

Art , Time