PERFORMANCE COLOR GENERATION — THE SOUND IN BETWWEN:
Lør, 27. september, 14.00
ARTIST TALK: Søn, 2. november,14.00
UDSTILLINGSPERIODE: 27. september - 2. november 2025
ÅBNINGSTID: Tors - søn, 12.00 - 16.00
Ink on bandages, 2025
My artistic practice did not begin with clarity. It began with loss.
But even before that, it began with something unexpected: a chance encounter. I did not come from an art background, nor did I plan to become an artist. My early life had little to do with galleries, studios, or exhibitions. Through meeting an artist by coincidence, a new path opened — one I had never imagined for myself. Quiet, almost ordinary, that moment planted a seed.
In the early 2000s, I experienced the erasure of a personal archive — drawings, writings, photographs, and certificates, all swept away. What followed was silence, a rupture that forced me to ask what it meant to make art at all. Out of that absence, I began again. At first tentatively: portraits of my mother, collages made from torn magazines, small acts of remembering. Art became a way to hold on, to stitch what was lost into something that could still speak.
Over time, the language of my practice shifted. What began as representational and memory-driven became increasingly abstract, poetic, and material-focused. I turned to what remained: old passports, rubber stamps, and maps. Later came gauze, bandages, atlases, rotan sticks, sound, and broken vessels. These were not just objects — they were carriers of lived experience, of migration, bureaucracy, belonging, and fracture.
My practice has since evolved into an ongoing dialogue between the visible and the invisible, the personal and the political, the past and the present. The works I create are layered, unstable, and open-ended. They resist finality. They do not explain. They ask to be met.
I listen more closely now — to how materials speak, to how sound vibrates through absence, to how silence, repetition, and chance shape a work. Performance, participation, and installation have become essential components. Whether I am writing on gauze strips with overheard phrases, constructing drums from x-ray films, or imagining a clay vessel collapsing on melting ice, the gesture is the same: to remain present with what unfolds.
Today, my practice is not about becoming someone new. It is about honoring what is already here — the trace of memory, the texture of place, the breath between identities. I do not begin with certainty. I begin with noticing — with what is fragile, unfinished, already slipping away. From there, something emerges: not resolution, but presence.
“Read more about my upcoming exhibition Rhythms of Identity →”
Installation Title: Cartologica- (ongoing project)
Medium: Cardboards and Atlas
Size: Variable
Year 2025
Cartologica is a fusion of two core concepts—cartography and logic—that together explore how we map and make sense of the world, both geographically and intellectually. Cartography, the practice of mapping, serves as the foundation for this installation, where hundreds of thin, flat, round cardboard shapes, each hollowed and filled with pages from atlases. These delicate pieces represent not only the physical act of mapping but also the mental landscapes we navigate—our memories, perceptions, and the shifting topographies of identity and history.
The use of atlas pages is intentional—maps are tools that shape our understanding of geography, but they are also tied to the act of migration, displacement, and exploration. These pages symbolize the diverse geographies we inhabit and the complex histories of movement that define both individual and collective identities. These maps, with their fragmented and overlapping territories, reflect the fluid nature of experience and the ongoing process of navigating between places, cultures, and memories.
The second part of the title, logic, introduces the intellectual framework that governs the creation of these maps. It points to the process by which we impose order on the world—through systems of knowledge, reason, and understanding. As we chart the world around us, we use logic to organize our experiences into something coherent, creating personal maps that help us navigate both space and time. The hollow centers of the cardboard pieces symbolize the gaps within memory—spaces between moments and places that remain fluid and malleable, shaped by evolving perspectives.
The cardboard itself serves as a symbol of movement—its lightweight, flexible nature evoking the transient, ever-changing conditions of migration and displacement. The organic arrangement of the pieces reflects the fluidity of migration, the movement from one place to another, and the process of re-establishing oneself in a new space, much like the constant reshaping of personal and collective identities.
In Cartologica, these two elements—cartography and logic—are not fixed. The installation challenges the traditional notion of maps as immutable or static, suggesting instead that our understanding of geography, memory, and identity is constantly shifting. The arrangement of the pieces reflects the unpredictable nature of life, where personal maps are in constant flux, reshaped by new experiences, shifting perspectives, and evolving ways of thinking.
The installation invite us to reflect on our own process of mapping—our personal journeys through time, place, and memory. Cartologica encourages us to reconsider the boundaries we draw in our lives, examining how they are influenced by both the logic of understanding and the fluid, ever-changing landscapes of our experiences.
“Read more about my upcoming exhibition Rhythms of Identity →”
Echoes of History, a deeply personal series by Malaysian–Danish artist Amir Zainorin, explores Malaysia’s turbulent years between 1941 and 1968 through meticulous ink-on-paper works. Drawing from archival articles in Berita Harian and New Straits Times, sourced via Singapore’s National Library Board, Amir reinterprets history by hand—not digitally—infusing large-scale reproductions with the intimate texture of handwriting. Accompanied by the video installation Navigating History, located in his Kapallorek Artspace studio, the work merges archival narrative with lived memory. Through this layered installation, he invites viewers into a reflective dialogue on national identity, historical transformation, and the interplay between memory and self-understanding.
Echoes of History is a deeply personal series where I explore Malaysia’s complex history between 1941 and 1968. Using meticulous ink-on-paper works, I bring to life significant moments of the country’s past, drawing from archival news clippings and historical publications. My research primarily focuses on two newspapers—Berita Harian and New Straits Times—with all articles sourced from the National Library Board of Singapore.
At first glance, the works appear as if they were digitally printed, but a closer look reveals the intricate details of my handwriting. This intentional technique blurs the line between machine and manual, evoking a sense of nostalgia and intimacy. All the pieces have been enlarged far beyond their original size, emphasizing the weight and significance of the historical narratives they depict.
This project is not about challenging viewers but rather a journey of self-exploration, driven by my curiosity about the past. Having often been asked about my background, I was inspired to delve into the history of Malaysia and the region around it. Through this process, I uncovered layers of narratives from an era marked by war, independence, and transformation.
As a child in Kelantan, our next-door neighbor was a Japanese man. I never really knew what he did — perhaps he worked with the government, perhaps something else — but he was the first foreigner I ever met. I remember thinking his language was beautiful. He spoke English, but with a Japanese accent, gentle and flowing. I didn’t understand much, but I loved the rhythm of it, like music. This was striking to me, because by then I already knew the stories of the Japanese occupation — the fear, the cruelty, the ruthless image carried in history books. Yet here, right next door, was a man whose presence was the opposite: soft, kind, ordinary. That contradiction stayed with me. It showed me that history is never one voice. Sometimes it is what you read in archives, and sometimes it is simply the sound of a neighbor’s accent that feels like music. Perhaps this is where my curiosity began — not the urge to understand everything, but the openness to listen, to let other voices exist without explanation.
Near Kelantan’s Sabak Beach, where the Japanese first landed when the war began, the remnants of bunkers still stood. When my family went there for picnics, we children played around these abandoned structures, never fully grasping their historical weight. They were playgrounds for us, not monuments of conquest. Looking back, this innocent play against the backdrop of war ruins shaped my understanding of how history slips between fact and memory, terror and tenderness.
The installation extends into video with Navigating History, filmed in my studio at Kapallorek Artspace. It provides an intimate glimpse into the process, showing how archival fragments, personal memory, and repetition slowly build into layered works. The act of rewriting becomes both meditation and confrontation: a way to stitch myself into the narratives that once seemed distant.
With Echoes of History, I am not only preserving fragments of Malaysia’s past but also engaging in a personal dialogue with history. This work represents my effort to connect with the stories that define the region and its people, while also acknowledging that history is never whole — it is fragmented, contradictory, and always shifting. The official accounts tell one story, memory tells another, and somewhere in between, identity takes shape.
In a way, this essay itself participates in that same process. It was first written only months ago, and now it has been rewritten, expanded, and republished. Each version is slightly different, shaped by time, by memory, by what I choose to include or leave out. Just as handwriting resists the permanence of print, rewriting resists the idea of a single, fixed narrative. Both the work and the text remind me that history — whether personal or national — is always provisional, always open to being told again.
Dear Helle: An Interactive Installation at the Immigrant Museum, Farum, Denmark
In 2014, the Immigrant Museum in Farum, Denmark, hosted a compelling installation titled Dear Helle. This unique artwork featured two images of the former Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt, adorned with hundreds of postcards meticulously pinned to the museum's wall. These postcards were a collection amassed over the years from cultural hubs and restaurants in Copenhagen, creating a rich tapestry of public sentiment and cultural dialogue.
Visitor Engagement
The installation was designed to be interactive, encouraging museum visitors to engage actively by writing postcards to the Prime Minister throughout the exhibition's duration. This engagement fostered a sense of participation and personal connection, allowing visitors to voice their thoughts and feelings directly to a political figure.
Collaboration with Trampoline House
In collaboration with Trampoline House, an independent community center offering support to refugees and asylum seekers in Copenhagen, workshops were organized where participants could share their experiences and challenges. These workshops were a platform for refugees to articulate the unbearable challenges of living in refugee camps, creating heartfelt messages that were later compiled and sent to the Prime Minister. This collaboration highlighted the voices of those often marginalized, bringing their stories to the forefront of public consciousness.
Messages to the Prime Minister
The postcards collected during the exhibition were not just symbolic; they were a direct line of communication to the Prime Minister. After the exhibition concluded, these messages were dispatched to Helle Thorning Schmidt's office, ensuring that the voices of the participants and visitors were heard at the highest levels of government.
Migrant Interviews
Adding another layer to the installation, videos showcasing interviews with migrants detailed their experiences living in Denmark. These personal narratives provided a poignant backdrop to the postcards, offering deeper insight into the lives and struggles of migrants. The interviews were a powerful testament to the resilience and courage of those who have sought refuge in Denmark.
Thematic Essence
The essence of Dear Helle revolves around the fleeting nature of existence, as its original form could only be observed and experienced within the exhibition's temporal confines. The utilization of postcards symbolizes transparency and signifies a period of transition—a tangible marker of change amidst the rapid evolution towards a digitized era characterized by swift technological advancements.
Impact and Response
The installation elicited emotional responses from museum visitors and the general public. Many were moved by the personal stories and the opportunity to engage directly with a political figure. The emotional impact of the artwork was profound, resonating deeply with those who experienced it.
Conclusion
Dear Helle stands as a significant contribution to the discourse on migration and political engagement. By combining visual art, personal narratives, and direct political communication, the installation created a powerful platform for dialogue and reflection. It underscored the importance of giving a voice to the marginalized and highlighted the potential of art to influence and inspire societal change.
