About Amir Z
About
Amir Zainorin is a conceptual and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores history, identity, language, and materiality through a transmaterialist lens. Coming from a background outside traditional art education, his artistic journey began as a form of healing and self-discovery, evolving into a practice that resists fixed definitions and embraces layered ambiguity.
A Malaysian–Danish contemporary artist, he engages deeply with themes of identity, diaspora, and migration. Born in Malaysia and based in Copenhagen since 2002, his practice bridges personal memory and collective history. Everyday objects—passports, drums, maps, bandages, boots, and atlas pages—are transformed into poetic installations and performances that question belonging and hybridity. His works have been presented widely in Malaysia, Denmark, and internationally, connecting Southeast Asian narratives with global contexts. Through humor, abstraction, and participation, he creates spaces where migration and cultural identity remain fluid and in motion.
Often beginning with familiar materials, Amir allows them to act not as static symbols but as shifting carriers of memory and experience. A passport becomes a marker of movement and exclusion. A drum made of X-rays resonates as a trace of the body. A boot planted with cactus and orchid speaks of contradictory belonging. Through subtle transformation, these objects are unsettled and reconfigured—inviting viewers to encounter them anew.
Rather than telling linear stories, his installations, performances, and sculptural works hold space for tension, contradiction, and quiet resistance. Through poetic abstraction, humor, and careful layering, he invites audiences to participate in meaning-making—favoring open-ended dialogue over didactic clarity.
Ongoing projects, such as Rhythms of Identity, reflect his commitment to exploring the intersections of sound, space, and storytelling. He is the founder of Jambatan, a platform for cross-cultural artistic exchange, and has exhibited extensively across Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, and the UK. His works are held in the permanent collections of the National Art Gallery Malaysia and the Immigrant Museum Denmark.
Through transmaterialism, Amir’s practice resists singular readings—allowing meaning to emerge through interaction, memory, and presence.
2019: ‘Climate’, IPOH International Art Festival, Malaysia
Selected Performances
2023: 'The Last Supper remix'-‘Transdicilinary Church’, Alte Handelsschule. Leipzig Germany
2022: ‘Me/We’, Port Perak 59th Venice Biennale , Italy
2020: ‘Covid Surreality’, Home Studio, Copenhagen
2016 : `Media Junkie`, Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde, Denmark
2014: ‘Think Tank’, The Mall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2012: ‘Sign of Times’, Public Art Performance Copenhagen,
2010: ‘Classification’, Overgaden, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010: ‘X-box’, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2010: ‘Love and Fragile’, Vanløse, Denmark
2010: ‘Stamp Over’, Public Art Performance, Immigration Office, Copenhagen, Denmark
2004: 'Language barrier', Roskilde Festival, Denmark
2003: ‘Journey', Images of Asia Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Curated exhibitions
2023: Calling it Home-Stateless Mind Festival-Copenhagen
2022: Pera+Flora+Fauna, Port Perak 59th Venice Biennale Collateral event, Italy
2022: Stateless Mind Festival, Archivi della Misericordia, Cannaregio, Venice, Italy
2021: Space Between-Stateless Mind Festival, Laterna Magica, Museum for Visuel Kunst Copenhagen
2019: Stateless Mind Festival, Sorte Firkant, Copenhagen
2019: Ipoh International Fim Festival, Ipoh, Malaysia
2019: Stateless Mind Festival, Laterna Magica, Museum for Visuel Kunst Copenhagen
2008: Malaysian Arts Festival, Gallery Shambala Copenhagen and Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde, Denmark
Awards and Grants
2023: One Year Working Grant- Danish art Foundation
2019: ‘Climate’, IPOH International Art Festival, Malaysia – Perak State Govt, Malaysia
2018: Mobility grant -SEA artist Research in the Nordic country - Nordic Culture Fund
2011: Production grant – Criss Cross ‘ at, Poetisk Bureau, Copenhagen- Danish Art Foundation
2011: Production grant -‘Generous Gestures’, Den Fri Contemporary Art- Danish Art Foundation
2010: Production grant for ‘X Box’, Performance Art at National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur- Danish Art Foundation
2022: Somalisk Forening- Danish art Foundation
2018: ‘Ude og Hjem’, Rødovre FlygtningVenner, Rødovre – Danish Art Foundation
2017: ‘Kaffe, Kunst og Krydderier’, Somalisk Forening, Rødovre - Danish art Foundation
Residencies