27.02.-12.04.2026

Katri Astala’s exhibition Textus explores the connections between the visual forms of text and textile. Composed of woven textiles, the exhibition translates texts into textiles to examine the properties that make text recognisable as text.

The starting point of the exhibition is the etymological connection between the words text and textile, as both derive from the Latin word textus. Its ancient Greek root, texere, to weave, refers to the organising and interlacing of warp and weft yarns. Over time, the meaning of textus broadened to also signify an organised combination of letters, words, and messages, in other words, text.

Before the advent of written texts and literary culture, stories and information were stored within the patterns of textiles and other handicrafts. The task of carrying meaning is a role that text has taken over from textiles. However, rather than linguistic meaning, the exhibition Textus focuses on the visual form of text.

A common feature in typographic text and woven textiles is the row. In the Latin script, text is written and read in horizontal rows, whereas a woven fabric is composed by adding weft yarns into horizontal rows among the warp yarns. Additionally, the structural drafts of woven fabrics consist of rows of binary code: black-and-white squares that the weaver can read and use to compose that specific textile.

At the heart of the exhibition is an artist’s book designed and produced by Katri Astala. It consists of fifteen different woven pages in which the visual characteristics of text, such as word shapes, rows, columns, and grids, are translated into woven structures and rhythms. On some pages, the form of text is presented literally, while on others, the line between text and textile is obscured into a texture.

The exhibition features a large artist’s book comprising fifteen woven-textile pages, two larger woven textiles, sketches and process materials.

Katri Astala is a graphic designer specialising in typography, concepts, and organising. She is interested in the form of text from the perspectives of communication and artistic research. In her work, she aims to hold space for ambiguity while simultaneously shaping and organising visual material into a comprehensible form.

Meet the designer

Saturday, 28 March, at 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm.
Katri Astala will present the design process behind the woven artist’s book and textiles on

You can also meet Katri at Luonnos on Saturday, 12 April, from 12–4 pm.