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Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist. His father's original surname was written Jiang . Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. As a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He has investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of so-called "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, following his arrest at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, he was held for 81 days without any official charges being filed; officials alluded to their allegations of "economic crimes".

✵ 28. August 1957
Ai Weiwei photo
Ai Weiwei: 218   quotes 39   likes

Ai Weiwei Quotes

“Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don’t have to obey their own laws.”

Ai Weiwei

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

Law

“One of the reasons religions are widely accepted is spiritual laziness and its resulting fear.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei on Twitter in English (beta). (December 24, 2010) http://aiwwenglish.tumblr.com/
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12

Fear , Religion

“I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, You’re There but You’re Not Existing, 2012

Life , Silence , Parting

“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.”

Ai Weiwei

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

Life , Art , Feeling , Joy

“They all ask: Why? Why is it that this man’s name [Ai Weiwei] can never be typed on a Chinese computer or the whole sentence will disappear?”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei, interview by Christiane Amanpour, 2010

“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.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, interview in “ Change http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/episode-change,” Episode 1, Season Six, Art: 21—Art in the Twenty-First Century, PBS, April 2012.
2010-, 2012

Beauty , Time , Perfection

“This is something you can never erase. It leaves a scar on you.”

Ai Weiwei

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

“Anyone who cares about truth should avoid not politics, but Olympic lies.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Happiness Can’t Be Faked, 2008

Truth

“Tradition is only a readymade. It’s for us to make a new gesture—to use it as a reference, more as a starting point than conclusion. Of course, there are very different attitudes and interpretations about our past and our memory of it. And ours is never a complete one, but is broken. In China, but also in my practice.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Escape from Propaganda, 2009

Memory , Past

“I feel powerless all the time, but I regain my energy by making a very small difference that won’t cost me much.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Life’s Work: Ai Weiwei, 2012

Feeling , Time

“Neither fairness nor justice, neither reality nor humanity can be simulated or manipulated by wires or remote controls.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Happiness Can’t Be Faked, 2008

Justice , Reality

“Nothing. Jail is about nothing. Completely blank.”

Ai Weiwei

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

“My activism is a part of me. If my art has anything to do with me, then my activism is part of my art.”

Ai Weiwei

“Ai Weiwei’s Year of Living Dangerously.” Art in America, September 2009, 28.
2000-09, 2009

Art , Parting

“Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, I have to speak for people who are afraid, 2010

Life

“The Internet changes the structure of society all the time—this massiveness made of individuals.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, " interview for Unilever Series http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/ai-weiwei-conversation at the Tate Modern, October 12, 2010.
2010-, 2010

Change , Time

“A small act is worth a million thoughts.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Meet the Most Interesting Person in China, 2009

“I cannot ever accept the kind of conditions where you can sacrifice someone’s rights.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: The Dissident, 2011

“Because of the economic crisis, China and the United States are bound together. This is a totally new phenomenon, and nobody will fight for ideology anymore. It’s all about business.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

Business , Fight

“Once again, the facts have been erased.”

Ai Weiwei

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

“Any power or structure that seeks to maintain full control and is not open in any way to loosening its power eventually makes itself ridiculous.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

Way

“No autocracy can lead people to believe that they are living in harmony and happiness.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei. “ The Olympics Are a Propaganda Show http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,531883,00.html.” Spiegel, January 29, 2008.
2000-09, 2008

People , Happiness

“The world is a sphere, there is no East or West.”

Ai Weiwei

“ No Fake: An Interview with Ai Weiwei http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2010/08/no_fake_an_inte.html.” Portland Art, September 8, 2010.
2010-, 2010

World

“Consider why the quality of school dinners is declining, even as more and more golf courses are opened.”

Ai Weiwei

“ Gold Is Not the Real Measure of a Nation http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/25/olympics2008.china,” Guardian, August 25, 2008.
2000-09, 2008

School

“I tell people that because you don’t bear any responsibility, you put me in danger. If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it, I become singled out, even though what I’m saying is common sense. It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

People , Thinking , Sense

“People have said, if you leave, you may never come back. Or they may not even let you leave. So this is always a cost you may have to pay. But I don’t want to restrict myself: When it happens, it happens. I have to deal with it, but not to prepare for it, because it is a kind of stupidity. If you prepare for it too much, you become a part of it.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, I have to speak for people who are afraid, 2010

People , Stupidity , Parting

“I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your life in fear. It is worse than actually losing your freedom.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Living in Fear Is Worse Than Imprisonment, 2012

Love , Life , Fear , Freedom

“Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW (8:16 p.m. December 22, 2011).
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12

People , World , Way , Freedom

“Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I see people on public buses, and I see their eyes, and I see they hold no hope. They can’t even imagine that they’ll be able to buy a house. They come from very poor villages where they’ve never seen electricity or toilet paper.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, The City: Beijing, 2011

Money , People , Hope , Imagination

“The government computer has one button: delete.”

Ai Weiwei

Zhang, Qichen. “ Ai Weiwei Says Censorship in China Will Ultimately Fail http://opennet.net/blog/2012/04/ai-weiwei-says-censorship-china-will-ultimately-fail.” Opennet, April 18, 2012.
2010-, 2012

“Contemporary art and the [Communist] Party are an impossible situation. It’s like oil and water—they can never mix.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

Art , Water

“The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW(4:19 p.m. December 2, 2009).
2000-09, Twitter feeds, 2009

World , Change

“Choices after waking up: To be true or to lie? To take action or be brainwashed? To be free or be jailed?”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW (8:50 a.m. September 5, 2009)
2000-09, Twitter feeds, 2009

Lie

“The government may be made up of clever, sensible people. But if they do not believe in basic human values, the more clever or shrewd they are the greater the tragedy they will create.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

People

“The Chinese authorities think of artists as prostitutes. And in reality it’s true: in the Communist system artists just represent what the power structure seeks them to represent. It is prostitution.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

Thinking , Reality

“The disaster-makers always get away, while the innocent are always punished.”

Ai Weiwei

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

“Myself, I try to search for the new way, always trying to set up a new possibility and to find the new tools to express myself. To reach a broader audience.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei, interview by Christiane Amanpour, 2010

Way , Search

“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.”

Ai Weiwei

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

People

“From my experience dealing with Sichuan [after the 2008 earthquake] I started to understand very clearly the character of local government. They will do anything. You will never really wrongly accuse them of anything because they do everything.”

Ai Weiwei

Branigan, Tania. “ Accounts Invaded, Computers Infected—Human Rights Activists Tell of Cyber Attacks http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/14/china-human-rights-activists-cyber-attack.” Guardian, January 14, 2010.
2010-, 2010

Understanding

“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