Ai Weiwei
Leading Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, cultural and social commentator and activist.
"We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something."
"Stupidity can win for a moment, but it can never really succeed because the nature of humans is to seek freedom. Rulers can delay that freedom, but they cannot stop it."
"The individual under this kind of life, with no rights, has absolutely no power in this land. How can they even ask you for creativity? Or imagination, or courage or passion?"
"My voice is not for me. Every time I make a sentence I think how many people for how many generations had a voice that no one could hear. At most they will be remembered as numbers; in many cases, even numbers don’t exist."
"Living in a system under the Communist ideology, an artist cannot avoid fighting for freedom of expression. You always have to be aware that art is not only a self-expression but a demonstration of human rights and dignity. To express yourself freely, a right as personal as it is, has always been difficult, given the political situation."
"But censorship by itself doesn’t work. It is, as Mao said, about the pen and the gun."
"When I returned to China [from the United States], I didn’t have a U.S. passport, a wife, or a university degree. From the Chinese point of view, I was a total failure."
"What can they do besides exile [me] or make me disappear? They have no imagination or creativity."
"I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions."
"No matter how long our politicians order people to sing songs of praise, no matter how many fireworks they launch into the heavens, and no matter how many foreign leaders they embrace, they cannot arouse a genuine mood of joy and celebration among the people."
"The fundamental problem is not that there are limits on voicing different opinions here. The problem is that the whole society is dying through lack of responsibility or involvement."
"To protect the right of expression is the central part of an artist’s activity. . . . . In China many essential rights are lacking, and I wanted to remind people of this."
"[People] always tell me, “Weiwei, leave the nation, please.” Or “Live longer and watch them die.” Either leave, or be patient and watch how they die. I really don’t know what I’m going to do."
"Art is not an end but a beginning."
"I spend very little time just doing '“art as art.'”
"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."
"Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human."
"Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man."
"Tradition is only a readymade. It’s for us to make a new gesture—to use it as a reference, more as a starting point than conclusion. Of course, there are very different attitudes and interpretations about our past and our memory of it. And ours is never a complete one, but is broken. In China, but also in my practice."
"Nothing can silence me as long as I am alive. I don’t give any kind of excuse. If I cannot come out [of China] or I cannot go in [to China] this is not going to change my belief. But when I am there, I am in this condition: I see it, I see people who need help. Then you know, I just want to offer my possibility to help them."