Ai Weiwei Quotes

213 Sourced Quotes

Choices after waking up: To be true or to lie? To take action or be brainwashed? To be free or be jailed?

Ai Weiwei
China might seem quite successful in its controls, but it has only raised the water level. It's like building a dam: it thinks there is more water so it will build higher. But every drop of water is still in there. It doesn't understand how to let the pressure out. It builds up a way to maintain control and push the problem to the next generation.

Ai Weiwei
I am always trying to find how to get the message through. [In Munich] we custom-made five thousand backpacks like the ones of those students [who died in Sichuan] to construct a simple sentence [spoken by the] mother of a dead student. It was: 'She has been happily living in this world for seven years.'

Ai Weiwei
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.

Ai Weiwei
Not an inch of the land belongs to you, but every inch could easily imprison you.

Ai Weiwei
I think China is in a chaos now and it could be more chaos. It's an orderly chaos. It's a party that ruthlessly violates every human's basic rights to serve its own purpose.

Ai Weiwei
No autocracy can lead people to believe that they are living in harmony and happiness.

Ai Weiwei
It is as difficult [for Chinese politicians] to get a real smile [from the people] as it is to keep the sky blue and clouds white.

Ai Weiwei
'Why are you so concerned about society?' That is always the question. And my answer is simple: 'Because you are an artist, you have to associate yourself with freedom of expression.'

Ai Weiwei
I came to art because I wanted to escape the other regulations of the society. The whole society is so political. But the irony is that my art becomes more and more political.

Ai Weiwei
I always want to design a frame that's open to everyone. I don't see art as a secret code.

Ai Weiwei
They all ask: Why? Why is it that this man's name [Ai Weiwei] can never be typed on a Chinese computer or the whole sentence will disappear?

Ai Weiwei
I want to prove that the system is not working..... You can't simply say that the system is not working. You have to work through it

Ai Weiwei
Freedom of speech implies the world isn't defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.

Ai Weiwei
My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall. Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don't think art is elite or mysterious. I don't think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate art from politics is itself a very political intention.

Ai Weiwei
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.

Ai Weiwei
I think strategically China has come to a very crucial moment. They [the government] have to re-justify themselves. Even the past 20 to 30 years are based on a kind of destructive, suicidal act. Now they are trying to reach a higher level, but I think in any society, culture should have its own rights: not to be touched by the government, not to be promoted by the government, also not to be destroyed by the government.

Ai Weiwei
My messages are temporary and shouldn't be our permanent condition. And like the wind it will pass. We'll have another wind coming.

Ai Weiwei
You can see China still cannot offer any real value to the world except as cheap labor, manufacturer, and its own so-called stability. Besides that, I don't see any creative values and creative mind or thinking [that] can be announced from China. So this is the struggle China has to face in the next decades.

Ai Weiwei
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 okay, to speak out.

Ai Weiwei
They tell us it will be about emotions and friendship, that it will be a night of joy. Who are they kidding?

Ai Weiwei
Block [my blog] if you want, but I cannot self-censor, because that is the only reason I have the blog. We both know this is a game. You have to play your part, and I have to play mine.

Ai Weiwei
During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.

Ai Weiwei
To what degree does it help us to change our life, or even to sense our existence, to really evaluate why? I think those questions cannot be escaped. Sometimes in history it's more hidden; somewhere these can be very personal and individual questions. But in certain times and certain places, your existence has to be associated with other people's situations. You have to make a reaction to the living conditions. It's not avoidable. You cannot just be blind about what is happening there. Such is the case in China.

Ai Weiwei
One of the reasons religions are widely accepted is spiritual laziness and its resulting fear.

Ai Weiwei