Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei; born 28 August 1957 in Beijing) is a Chinese Contemporary artist and activist. His father's side's original surname is 蔣 Jiang. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympics. As a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He has investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth18 May 1957
CityBeijing, China
CountryChina
My situation gives me certain ideas about beauty or the excitement of life, but that doesn't mean other people can necessarily appreciate it.
Individual; that means he has his own special way to communicate, which creates the form of him. In the information age, this expression and communication has become so different.
Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.
A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating.
Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity.
The practice of photography is no longer a means for recording reality. Instead, it has become reality itself
I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.
For artists and intellectuals today, what is most needed is to be clear about social responsibility, because that is what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself as an individual is very political. You don't have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.
Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it's very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle.
Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.
I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.
Warhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work.
I'm not a writer, but today I think you have to be everything. As an artist you have an obligation to let people know what is on your mind and why you're doing this.