To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.
Ai WeiweiOur lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.
Ai WeiweiSomehow, 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.
Ai WeiweiI don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
Ai Weiwei