Ai Weiwei - Society Quotes

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Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.

Ai Weiwei
The Internet changes the structure of society all the time—this massiveness made of individuals.

Ai Weiwei
If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it's a human need.

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
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
'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
China [is a] society which forbids any flow of the information and freedom of speech. This is on record, so everybody should know this.

Ai Weiwei
The most unfair things that could have happened in a society fell upon a blind man. This is something that no one can accept or explain away with any excuse. Everyone will ask: 'Do we actually have to exist in a society like this?'

Ai Weiwei
No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy,

Ai Weiwei
Cover-ups and deception are the nature of this society. Without lies it won't exist.

Ai Weiwei
[My family] suffer so much. My mother was much older when I came out [of detention]. She had problems with her hearing and high blood pressure. But they still support me. When you make somebody disappear and you don't announce it to the family, what is this? You make people desperate and bring them close to death. If our cat or dog is lost, it makes us desperately want to know where it is—so for humans disappearing, you can barely imagine the pain. What kind of society is this? If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection, then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or so charming. People feel, This guy is fighting for us.

Ai Weiwei
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.

Ai Weiwei
I tell people that because you don't bear any responsibility, you put me in danger. If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it, I become singled out, even though what I'm saying is common sense. It's very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.

Ai Weiwei
A society that has no ideals, that discards the principles of humanitarianism, that abandons the fundamental rights and dignity of humanity, can only survive by denying truth, fairness and justice.

Ai Weiwei
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
The officials want China to be seen as a cultured, creative nation, but in this anti-liberal political society everything outside the direct control of the state is seen as a potential threat.

Ai Weiwei
In a society where there is no freedom of the press, it is difficult for victims to be noticed. Just take the example from yesterday: I had given a telephone interview to CNN. Then, suddenly, CNN was shut down for a couple of minutes. It was the first time I experienced that my television went totally dead. I realized: Oh my God, it's because of me. This is crazy! Which nation would do that? Maybe Cuba, North Korea, China. But what do they want, what are they so afraid of?

Ai Weiwei