Ai Weiwei
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.Collection: Art
Warhol came from an ordinary family and he had a profound understanding about capitalism and material culture. He was probably one of the few Western artists - or artists from the United States - that could be considered a true product of his time and brought out that kind of spirit of the culture.Collection: Artist
I remember one little rainy day I went searching for this apartment and I saw so many people standing on a stoop on the corner in the rain. Later I realized, that was drug traffic. They were all buying drugs.Collection: Rain
What counts in the end is what the government does.Collection: Government
The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.Collection: Government
We move so fast that memory is something we can only graspCollection: Memories
In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.Collection: Crush
I saw [Allen Ginsberg] more as an old man who liked poetry and who had a lot of physical and emotional problems. We liked our time together.Collection: Men
I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.Collection: My Own
I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it's very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.Collection: Art
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.Collection: Jobs
The IT people who have made such an effort to know and understand computer technology. They are frustrated that you cannot use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China. They are the first to recognize that the situation is terrible.Collection: Technology
I came back [to Beijing ] because that's the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.Collection: Excuse
I loved New York — every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong — visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.Collection: Strong
I don’t want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did.Collection: Fighting
The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society's level of civilization.Collection: Civilization
The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it...it's very disturbing.Collection: Media
It's really rubbish that some kind of "technical" learning means you will be a better person because you know this skill better.Collection: Mean
As a total activity - I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature.Collection: Art
Chinese government is very clearly losing power in every aspect, but trying to fix up all the problems or potential problems.Collection: Government
I was in the most restricted prison in China, the most tough. The design of the prison is modeled for internal crimes of the Communist party, so it's like a mafia family's law. It's independent to the law this nation openly applies. It's the place they take you before they give you over to the judicial system. You stay there for a year or two and they make you really suffer to confess everything.Collection: Party
Through my work and ways of expression, I strive to engage in dialogue with the society that I am living in.Collection: Expression
Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.Collection: Country
Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.Collection: Art
My childhood was quite extreme. Sometimes I was so weak I could not stand up. But now I am so strong. Life is unpredictableCollection: Strong
The idea to use backpacks came from my visit to Sichuan after the earthquake in May 2008. During the earthquake many schools collapsed. Thousands of young students lost their lives, and you could see bags and study material everywhere. Then you realize individual life, media, and the lives of the students are serving very different purposes. The lives of the students disappeared within the state propaganda, and very soon everybody will forget everything.Collection: School
If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter.Collection: Writing
If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or I am so charming. People feel: This guy is fighting for us.Collection: Beautiful
China partially wants to become part of the world. By hosting the Olympics and the Expo, they made a big effort to tell people: Look, we are the same. They want to be accepted by the international community.Collection: People
No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy.Collection: Historical
Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella.Collection: Character
I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it.Collection: Art
Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.Collection: Cities
All the auction houses care about is the selling of luxury goods.Collection: Luxury
I'm not a writer, but today I think you have to be everything. As an artist you have an obligation to let people know what is on your mind and why you're doing this.Collection: Thinking
I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.Collection: Father
Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.Collection: Beautiful
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.Collection: Communication
It's always nice to share your energy with young people, the people who might not have any skills but are simply willing to be a part of it.Collection: Nice
Twitter is the people’s tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources.Collection: People
The world is sphere, has no East or West.Collection: East
Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.Collection: Meaningful
In an environment without public platform nor protection, the individual is the most powerful and most responsible.Collection: Powerful
If I walk on the street, if I go to a restaurant, people come to me and say: "Can we take a photo together? Can you give me your autograph?" They would bring their expensive Armani or Prada wallet to sign. Other people who are desperate show me a photo of their dead daughter and ask: Can you support me? I tell them: How can I? Morally, of course, I sympathize with you. But I cannot support you and you cannot support me. This is the condition of this society. We are separated.Collection: Daughter
In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination.Collection: Passion
There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.Collection: Sports
During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.Collection: Moon
Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.Collection: Self
Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.Collection: Use