Ai Weiwei: Quotes about thinking

Ai Weiwei is Chinese concept artist. Explore interesting quotes on thinking.

Ai Weiwei: 436 quotes39 likes

“I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable—how we decide what is valuable.”

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

“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.”

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

“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.”

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“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.”

2010-, Ai Weiwei Does Not Feel Powerful, 2011

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

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

“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?”

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

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

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

“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.”

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.”

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“I think right now is the moment. This is the beginning. We don’t know what is it the moment of, and maybe something much crazier will happen. But really, we see the sunshine coming in. It was clouded for maybe a hundred years. Our whole condition was very sad, but we still feel warmth, and the life in our bodies can still tell that there is excitement in there, even though death is waiting. We had better not enjoy the moment, but create the moment.”

Tinari, Philip, and Angie Baecker, eds. Hans Ulrich Obrist: The China Interviews. Beijing: Office for Discourse Engineering, 2009.
2000-09, 2009

“I often think what I’m saying is for the people who never had a chance to be heard.”

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2009

“I think I have this responsibility to my father’s generation, and especially future generations.”

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

“I don’t really care that much about if I want to be more successful or less successful in art, because I never think life and art should be separate. What’s life if you don’t have conversation and joy and anger?”

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

“In talking about memory and our history, I think our humanity, especially in China, is cut. Cut, broken, separated. If we have a character from our history and memory, the character is broken, it’s shattered.”

2000-09, Escape from Propaganda, 2009