“My image of what a city should be - the super-rich and all the poor and desperate and the people who have some kind of a desire. It's a surviving game, people trying to survive on many different levels.” PeopleShouldTryingKindDifferentDesireGamesPoorLevelsCitiesRichDesperateSurvivingDifferent Levels Author:Ai Weiwei
“New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world.” WorldArtDifferentHappensIndividualCitiesNew YorkDisappearThings HappenArt World Author:Ai Weiwei
“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.” WayMeanDifferentAgeFormIndividualSpecialInformationExpressionCommunicationCommunicateInformation Age Author:Ai Weiwei
“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.” PeopleKnowsYearsMindHeartDifferentSometimesBeautifulThreeOpinionFivePoetSixNineInnocentThree TimesNine YearsAnother TimeBeautiful HeartDifferent OpinionsBeautiful Mind Author:Ai Weiwei
“The demand for individual freedom leads us to different realms, and it enables us to participate in social events.” DifferentIndividualSocialEventsDemandRealmsIndividual FreedomSocial Events Author:Ai Weiwei
“My musician friends are banned from playing concerts in China because they share the same views as I do. My name cannot appear on the web, because my opinion is different from the Party.” DifferentNamesViewsPartyOpinionShareMusicianChinaConcertsBanned Author:Ai Weiwei
“I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two different sets of judgment.” ThinkingArtTwoDifferentUseRealityJudgmentStandardsDouble Standard Author:Ai Weiwei
“I have people working together, doing different things: architecture, art installation, photography, publishing, and curatorial works and design.” PeopleArtDifferentTogetherDesignPhotographyArchitectureDifferent ThingsWorking TogetherPublishingInstallation Author:Ai Weiwei
“The society was so different [in China] - it was a feudalistic society. It didn't come to a point of industrial revolution until twenty years ago.” YearsDifferentRevolutionYears AgoTwentiesChinaIndustrial Revolution Author:Ai Weiwei
“The whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.” WayDifferentWholeRealizingAttitudeOpinionDemocraticRealisticFree SocietyDifferent Opinions Author:Ai Weiwei
“China is at a different stage of development, human rights are violated here much more often. And still, we see improvements even here.” HumansStillsDifferentRightsStageDevelopmentHuman RightsChinaImprovementStages Of Development Author:Ai Weiwei
“The United States is a melting pot. Like John F. Kennedy said, it's a nation of immigrants. But Donald Trump wants to build a fence that clearly makes the statement: "You and I are divided. We're different, and you're dangerous." That kind of thinking stops human, civilized evolution. It's dangerous to create that kind of tension.” ThinkingKindDifferentDangerousEvolutionTensionCivilizedPotFence Author:Ai Weiwei
“We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today's political leaders are still lacking of the vision. They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things. Even today the borders they're seeing the physical borders are very different from the political borders. Because all those powers are so connected, and you cannot even see whose interest in what move.” TryingDifferentProblemTodayMovingPoliticalTermInterestSituationLeaderVisionElectionSellingPopularity Author:Ai Weiwei
“China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.” TwoDifferentMovingAttitudeOpinionAuthorityCriticismChinaChineseSurveillanceOften IsCensoredDifferent Attitude Author:Ai Weiwei
“The idea to use backpacks came from my visit to Sichuan after the earthquake in May 2008. During the earthquake many schools collapsed. Thousands of young students lost their lives, and you could see bags and study material everywhere. Then you realize individual life, media, and the lives of the students are serving very different purposes. The lives of the students disappeared within the state propaganda, and very soon everybody will forget everything.” MayIdeasDifferentStatesUseSchoolYoungPurposeIndividualLostRealizingForgetStudyMediaStudentsMaterialsPropagandaBagsServingEarthquakesIndividual LifeForget EverythingYoung Students Author:Ai Weiwei
