Ai Weiwei Quotes

China spends a lot of resources and effort on gaining soft power over culture. The hope is that it can be the last lifeline for the Party's survival. Obviously, the idea will fail.

Each year, more people want to become artists.

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.

[Cultural department] understand nothing but bureaucratic daily affairs. They don't care about culture.

My musician friends are banned from playing concerts in China because they share the same views as I do. My name cannot appear on the web, because my opinion is different from the Party.

Chinese government is very clearly losing power in every aspect, but trying to fix up all the problems or potential problems.

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.

I spend a lot of time talking to journalists.

The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay.

If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.

Everyone of us is a potential convict.

I'm doing quite a few things now. In one day, I will go to Kassel, Germany, for a documentary project I've been preparing for half a year. I will bring 1,001 Chinese to participate as my artwork there - any Chinese who is a Chinese passport holder and over eighteen years old could apply through my blog. I'm just bringing them to Kassel to see the art show, and pay their room and board.

No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy.

Individual; that means he has his own special way to communicate, which creates the form of him. In the information age, this expression and communication has become so different.

I don't think there is a distinct change, because in the West I'm not a person who can serve his purpose.

People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It's an unbearable condition.

I never regret anything.

If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?

There is no media freedom in China. As a result, the society is corrupt and lacks productivity. It is unable to adjust itself for progress. This will lead to the country's eventual downfall.

You're still being looked at as somebody who - it's a very complicated issue.

I never had a sense of home.

The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it...it's very disturbing.

I don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.

For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.

I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.

In my case, I was stuck there for quite a while. New York is large enough to be a very abstract city, so nobody cares.

Imagine one day, the hateful world around you collapses. And it is your attitude, words and actions that put an end to it. Will you be excited?

[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I've been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.

China has a rich history that has spanned millennia. It consists of the histories of many nations and regions.

The demand for individual freedom leads us to different realms, and it enables us to participate in social events.

My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate [the two] is itself a very political intention.

This so-called fame or being better off doesn't really attract me at all.

New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world.

Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.

If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.

Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics.

Nationality started as something natural, but we should not be restrained by the old politics that make up these clear lines. It should have its own way of evolving. In some places, it will evolve slower and in others, faster. It's like the mountains, the ocean and the rivers. It has its own geological forms. Societies cannot be flat. But during change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we'll be going backward.

This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years. People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China's relationship with the outside world.

It's really rubbish that some kind of "technical" learning means you will be a better person because you know this skill better.

I think to deal with the situation like human crisis, 65 million people being displaced, lost their home, and with such human tragedy, has to make every level of society to be conscious and to be alert about the situation. So, the politicians and the people who make decisions very often is the one we think can make some difference. But of course they will not make a difference if the citizens or the individuals not push it or not to speak out, to possess a very strong voice about, this is not acceptable.

I never think any place is better than others.

A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating.

If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?

There are many cases and layers of racist behavior in the US - from police treatment to the issues of education and job opportunities. In America, however, such cases are being discussed publically.

I want people to see their own power.

The Internet is the best thing that ever happened to China. It turns us into individuals and also enables us to share our perceptions and feelings. It creates a culture of individualism and exchange even though the real society doesn't promote it. There isn't a single Chinese university that can invite me to give a talk. Even though I know there are many students who would like to hear what I have to say.

I don't personally feel any association with a kind of culture related to state, or culture related to power, which I think is always disgusting.

Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.