There is no revolution like the Communist revolution. You simply burn all the books, kill all of the thinking people and use the poor proletariat to … - Ai Weiwei

It became like a symbolic thing, to be "an artist." After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.

Living in a system under the Communist ideology, an artist cannot avoid fighting for freedom of expression. You always have to be aware that art is not only a self-expression but a demonstration of human rights and dignity. To express yourself freely, a right as personal as it is, has always been difficult, given the political situation.

I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable—how we decide what is valuable.