A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.

It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.

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.

I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.

...photographs are facts, but not necessarily true... The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.

I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.

I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.