About Amir Z
Amir Zainorin is a conceptual and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores history, identity, language, and materiality through a transmaterialist lens. With a background outside of 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.
Amir’s work often begins with everyday materials—old passports, x-rays, rotan sticks, gauze, boots, or pages from atlases. These are not used as symbols, but as living, shifting carriers of memory and experience. A passport becomes a marker of movement and exclusion. A drum made of x-rays transforms into a resonant trace of the body. A boot planted with cactus and orchid speaks of contradictory belonging. Through subtle transformation, these materials are unsettled and reconfigured—inviting the viewer 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 material layering, he invites audiences to participate in meaning-making—favoring open-ended dialogue over didactic clarity.
His ongoing projects, such as Rhythm of Identity, reflect a 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 widely 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.
Contact us for inquiries about exhibitions, collaborations, or commissions. Follow us on social media for the latest updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses.
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
2015: ‘Batu Api – One Click Art Performance’, Melaka Art Performance Festival, Malaysia
2014: ‘D' art’, Global Village, Brønshøj Library, Denmark
2014: ‘Think Tank’, The Mall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2012: ‘Sign of Times’, Public Art Performance Copenhagen,
2011: ‘Most Wanted’, Tupada Action Media Art Performance festival, Phillipines
2011: ‘Stateless Border’, Den Fri, Copenhagen, Denmark
2011: ‘Subject To Change’, MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2010: ‘Classification’, Overgaden, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010: ‘X-box’, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2010: ‘Love Stamp’, Brorsons kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010: ‘Love and Fragile’, Vanløse, Denmark
2010: ‘Stamp Over’, Public Art Performance, Immigration Office, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010: ‘Stamp Over’, Public Art Performance, Den Fri, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009: ‘Uncut’, Malaysian Arts Festival, Verdenskulturhuset, Copenhagen,Denmark .
2008: ‘Paradise Now’, Gallery Shambala, Copenhagen, Denmark
2004: 'Live portrait drawing’, Heerup Museum, 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
2025: Production grant for Rhythm of Identity -Danish art Foundation2023: 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