Ai Weiwei - Artist Quotes

16 Sourced Quotes

View all Ai Weiwei Quotes
Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.

Ai Weiwei
I'm an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I'm always looking to extend the boundaries.

Ai Weiwei
It became like a symbolic thing, to be an artist. After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.

Ai Weiwei
I don't see myself as a dissident artist. I see them as a dissident government!

Ai Weiwei
I've never planned any part of my career—except being an artist. And I was pushed into that corner because I thought being an artist was the only way to have a little freedom.

Ai Weiwei
I think it's a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.

Ai Weiwei
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.

Ai Weiwei
The Chinese authorities think of artists as prostitutes. And in reality it's true: in the Communist system artists just represent what the power structure seeks them to represent. It is prostitution.

Ai Weiwei
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.

Ai Weiwei
As an artist, I am very familiar with how to show the details, how to transform them into a language people can understand. They [the government] know that the Internet is a strong force, unbearable for them.

Ai Weiwei
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.

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
My work has always been political, because the choice of being an artist is political in China.

Ai Weiwei
Modernism represents a true kind of living. Modernism is not about form or method or the works of a few artists, but rather about a necessary way of living. And only this kind of lifestyle can save China, because if we don't have modernism, then we will die under the grasp of one or another ideology. Modernism at least says that every person is free and needs to honestly encounter his own life.

Ai Weiwei
Writers, artists, and commentators on websites are detained or thrown into jail when they reflect on democracy, opening up, reform and reason. This is the reality of China.

Ai Weiwei
On the Internet, people do not know each other, they don't have common leaders, sometimes not even a common political goal. But they come together on certain issues. I think that is a miracle. It never happened in the past. Without the Internet, I would not even be Ai Weiwei today. I would just be an artist somewhere doing my shows.

Ai Weiwei