Ai Weiwei - Condition Quotes

17 Sourced Quotes

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Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.

Ai Weiwei
I think restrictions are an essential condition in the fight for freedom of expression. It's also a source for any kind of creativity.

Ai Weiwei
The 81 days of detention were a nightmare. I am not unique; it happened to many people in China. Conditions were extreme, created by a system that thinks it is above the law and has become a kind of monstrous machine. There were so many moments when I felt desperate and hopeless. But still, the next morning, I heard the birds singing.

Ai Weiwei
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.

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
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
I have the responsibility to let the people know what happened to me, and did I commit the crime or if I didn't, what is the real accusation? Why am I in this condition today? I think it reflects our human condition in this piece of land, and if I don't bear some responsibility.... many, many people, their voice can never be heard.

Ai Weiwei
Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.

Ai Weiwei
Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.

Ai Weiwei
To me, to be political means you associate your work with a larger number of people's living conditions, and that includes both mental and physical conditions. And you try to use your work to affect the situation.

Ai Weiwei
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.

Ai Weiwei
We see plenty of artistic work that reflects superficial social conditions, but very little work that questions fundamental values.

Ai Weiwei
The frustration mainly comes from trying to understand what they really want. Also, you cannot understand how can such a large nation maintain its so-called stability by doing something very unlawful. I mean, how can they possibly manage to stabilize the whole social condition by not [acting with] justice and fairness.

Ai Weiwei
Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.

Ai Weiwei
I think right now is the moment. This is the beginning. We don't know what is it the moment of, and maybe something much crazier will happen. But really, we see the sunshine coming in. It was clouded for maybe a hundred years. Our whole condition was very sad, but we still feel warmth, and the life in our bodies can still tell that there is excitement in there, even though death is waiting. We had better not enjoy the moment, but create the moment.

Ai Weiwei
I cannot ever accept the kind of conditions where you can sacrifice someone's rights.

Ai Weiwei
My current situation is, I always want to find a new possibility. China is in a changing stage, and that puts me in a very difficult situation, because anytime a new condition is announced there is a lot of struggle between the new and the old. So the establishment really becomes extremely nervous because they are refusing to meet very basic human rights or values. I don't know how long I can still struggle in China, but I will try my best. Because this is a land I am very familiar with, and we have been in the same kind of struggle for generations. I think it's a time for change.

Ai Weiwei