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
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.
The internet is a wild land with its own games, languages and gestures through which we are starting to share common feelings.
Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
A small act is worth a million thoughts.
Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay.
Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
Everything is art. Everything is politics.
The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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.
Liberty is about the right to question everything.
Creativity is the power to act.
I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.
Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.