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“Dumpsters are everywhere in the streets of New York City, and you could probably find a number of masterpieces in them. I must have moved about ten times during my years in New York, and artworks were the first things I<\/a> threw away. I had pride in these works, of course, but once I’d finished them, my friendship<\/a> with them had ended. I<\/a> didn’t owe them, and they didn’t owe me, and I would have been more embarrassed to see them again<\/a> than I would have been to run into an old lover<\/a>. If they were not going to be hanging on someone else’s wall, they didn’t count as anything at all. …<\/p>\n [Back in Beijing] young artists often came to me for counseling and like a traditional Chinese<\/a> physician dispensing cures, I would … offer a prescription …: they should make no effort to please other people and just concentrate on preserving their vital energy<\/a>. To conventional culture<\/a>, I said, art<\/a> should be a nail in the eye, a spike in the flesh, gravel in the shoe: the reason why art cannot be ignored is that it destabilizes what seems settled and secure. Change is an objective<\/a> fact<\/a>, and whether you like it or not, only by confronting challenges<\/a> can you be sure you have enough kindling to keep the fire in your spirit burning. Don’t try to dream other people’s dreams. …<\/p>\n Art<\/a> should be recognized, yes, but not in the form of expensive collectibles to be deposited in MoMA storage to molder – that’s simply a waste. … To me, art is a dynamic relationship with reality, with our way of life<\/a> and attitude to life<\/a>, and it should not be placed in a separate compartment. I have no interest in art that tries to keep itself distinct from reality.”<\/p>\n aus: Ai Weiwei: 1000 years of joys and sorrows. London: Bodley Head 2021, S.189, 201 und 234.<\/p>\n