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Twitter was like a poem. It was rich, real and spontaneous. It really fit my style. In a year and a half, I tweeted 60,000 tweets, over 100,000 words. I spent a minimum eight hours a day on it, sometimes 24 hours.
- Ai Weiwei
#Day
#Real
#Rich
#Style
#Words
Recently I danced in a video spoof of the song 'Gangnam Style,' and it was quickly banned across multiple Chinese online video platforms. But the story still traveled all over the world, carried in hundreds of international media reports.
- Ai Weiwei
#Media
#Song
#Story
#Style
#World
China is an old nation with a colourful history. Its booming economy has triggered an appetite and a curiosity around the world for its art and culture, one that continues to grow. I can, however, tell people that it is a show with no actor.
- Ai Weiwei
#Art
#Culture
#Grow
#History
#World
China has not established the rule of law and if there is a power above the law there is no social justice. Everybody can be subjected to harm. I'm just a citizen: my life is equal in value to any other. But I'm thankful that when I lost my freedom so many people shared feelings and put such touching effort into helping me.
- Ai Weiwei
#Freedom
#Justice
#Life
#Power
#Thankful
I'm always followed by two or three cars and have police around. Even walking in the park, you see them taking photos behind the bushes and trying to videotape everything.
- Ai Weiwei
#Everything
#Police
#See
#Trying
#Walking
I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have another set of logic or reasoning or values which are different from yours. Of course, I don't think they believe that. It's just an argument that's made when you can't confront the truth and facts. They really want to maintain power.
- Ai Weiwei
#Believe
#Leadership
#Power
#Truth
#World
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.
- Ai Weiwei
#Moment
#People
#Relationship
#World
Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don't have to obey their own laws. 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.
- Ai Weiwei
#Family
#Police
#Power
#Society
#Time
Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it's not a product; it's an understanding of human nature.
- Ai Weiwei
#Design
#Impossible
#iPhone
#Nature
The 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of 'fair competition.' It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness, courage and strength.
- Ai Weiwei
#Competition
#Courage
#Freedom
#Strength
So maybe there are three parts in my life - earlier background living in exile in Xinjiang in a very political circumstance, then later the United States from 24 to 36 years old. I was quite equipped with liberal thinking. Then the Internet. If there is no Internet, of course, I cannot really exercise my opinion or my ideas.
- Ai Weiwei
#Exercise
#Internet
#Life
#Political
As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am. As long as I can communicate, I'm not so lonely. If I cannot travel, or do art, or have company, if they take away all my belongings, it doesn't matter at all.
- Ai Weiwei
#Art
#Born
#Company
#I Am
#Long
#Travel
Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.
- Ai Weiwei
#Born
#Constitution
#Government
#World
Because of the economic crisis, China and the United States are bound together. This is a totally new phenomenon, and nobody will fight for ideology anymore. It's all about business.
- Ai Weiwei
#Business
#Crisis
#Fight
#New
#Together
The Chinese art world does not exist. 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.
- Ai Weiwei
#Art
#Imagination
#Passion
#Society
A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
- Ai Weiwei
#Music
#Nation
#Tragedy
I call on people to be 'obsessed citizens,' forever questioning and asking for accountability. That's the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life.
- Ai Weiwei
#Chance
#Happy Life
#Life
#People
#Today
The internet is a wild land with its own games, languages and gestures through which we are starting to share common feelings.
- Ai Weiwei
#Feelings
#Internet
#Land
#Own
#Wild
Censorship is saying: 'I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.' But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word - even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.
- Ai Weiwei
#Internet
#People
#Power
#Tree
#Voice
When you have strict censorship of the internet, young students cannot receive a full education. Their view of the world is imbalanced. There can be no true discussion of the issues.
- Ai Weiwei
#Education
#Internet
#True
#View
#World
If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?
- Ai Weiwei
#Art
#Nothing
#Pain
#People
#Sorrow
China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.
- Ai Weiwei
#Attitude
#Criticism
#I Am
#Opinion
#Two
I see the Beijing National Stadium as an architectural project. I accepted Herzog and De Meuron's invitation to collaborate on the design, and our proposal won the competition. From beginning to end, I stayed with the project. I am committed to fostering relationships between a city and its architecture.
- Ai Weiwei
#Architecture
#City
#Competition
#Design
To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It's a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.
- Ai Weiwei
#Architecture
#Politics
#Society
#Work
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