Dominika’s Reviews > 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows > Status Update

‘“what should we write on a hero’s tombstone?”
“dad, write this,” he said. “‘i hope a breeze that likes him blows over his tombstone.’”
i loved that line. keep it for me, i thought.’

‘“dad, do you know why i’m not happy? because i feel that time in this word passes too quickly.”
“so think of a way to make time pass more slowly. you’re such a resourceful entomologist.”
“the only way is to be sad. being sad makes time pass slower.”’

‘“fools have their own rhythm. what i mean is, even if someone’s a fool, you should let him do his thing. bad guys have their own rhythm, i’ve noticed.”’ [ai lao]

‘“so weird!” the ivestigator said. “how come xou can talk at such great length when art is the topic, and you get so excited that you can’t stop? if we talk about other things, you can never give a clear account of yourself, or you don’t remember, or you’ve forgotten. can it really be that there’s nothing worth remembering apart from stuff connected to art?”’

‘art should be recognized, yes, but not in the form of expensive collectibles to be deposited in moma storage to molder. ... my vision of contemporary art took a very different form. to me, art is in a dynamic relationship with reality, with our way of life and attitude to life, and it should not be placed in a separate compartment. i have no interest in art that tries to keep itself distinct from reality.’

‘“To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is a reason.”’

'after the photo was taken, i cleared the shards away so that my mother wouldn't see them: i didn't want her to view me differently. luckily, there was no shortage of han urns at the market, and i had no worries as far as ai dan was concerned, as he had long been witness to my pranks.' (2/2)

'as a way of introducing ai dan to the continuous capture function of one of my cameras, i had him record the last moments of a han dynasty earthenware urn as it fell from my hands. ... this capricious, inane act was just one of my many outlandish doings. ..." (1/2)

'i had come to realize that art is simply an identity, and nothing else. to break free of constraints doesn't mean you have gained freedom, for freedom is an expression of courage and sustained risk-taking, and facing freedom is always difficult, whatever the time and place.'

'art has its own language. its language may be unaesthetic and irrational, but it's the language of art all the same.
negative behavior has positive implications.
when people talk about someone with talent, they say, "he did things of significance." in the future, people will say this of someone with talent: "he did nothing at all."'