Arja Karhumaa

Associate Professor
Associate Professor
A806 Department of Art and Media

I am a graphic designer and text artist, or text designer and graphic artist, and Associate Professor in Visual Communication Design.

My work spans across typography, design, and experimental writing and across both poetry and academia. Curious about unseen currents within contemporary visual communication, I seek new modes of diffractive and sustainable academic practice beyond commercial interest. I'm interested in language and typography, publication as art/design practice, and redefining communication design in the context of new materiality. All of these areas are visible in my doctoral research Epä/igenesis (2021) featuring the bookwork Epägenesis: Katalogi X (2020), a catalogue of material and conceptual writing.

My work has been published and exhibited in anthologies, galleries and festivals within Europe. Since 2021 I am co-founder of the independent non-profit publishing platform Multipöly.

Full researcher profile
https://research.aalto.fi/...

Contact information

Phone number
+358405707777

Honors and awards

Honorary mention in Fiction Category; The Most Beautiful Books in Finland 2022 / Katoaminen - passio (Kid Kokko)

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Art and Media Jan 2023

Honorary mention in Non-Fiction Category; The Most Beautiful Books in Finland 2022 / Säihkyvät utopiat: Essee-mixtape (eds. Aurora Ala-Hakula, Maaria Ylikangas & Arja Karhumaa)

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Art and Media Jan 2023

Artist residency, Frans Masereel Centre

Granted funding (personal grants) Department of Art and Media Jan 2021

Honorary mention in Special Books category; The Most Beautiful Books in Finland

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Art and Media Jan 2021

Vuoden Huiput Silver award in Design Category: ”Snapshot” for Flow Festival & Aalto University

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Media Apr 2019

Vuoden Huiput Gold Award in Young Creatives category: 'Searching for Zen'

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Media Apr 2019

Teacher of the Year, Aalto ARTS 2019

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Media Dec 2019

Silver award in Poster design category; Vuoden huiput / Grafia Best Finnish Creative Design

Invitation or ranking in competition Department of Media Jan 2014

The Poet Debutant of the year: Nuoren Voiman Liitto

Award or honor granted for a specific work Department of Media Jan 2015

Honorary mention in Art Book category, The Most Beautiful Books in Finland

Invitation or ranking in competition Department of Media Jan 2017

Publications

Book design / Aquatic Encounters: A Glossary of Hydrofeminism

Arja Karhumaa, Anastasia (A) Khodyreva, Elina Suoyrjö 2024

Stina Saari: onninno

Arja Karhumaa, Stina Saari 2023

The horizon of typographic expectation

Arja Karhumaa 2023 Atlas of aspect change

Body Text. Exploring Somatic Devices in the Design of Hybrid Books Fun Primavera and Yours

Pauliina Nykänen, Arja Karhumaa 2023 The Experimental Book Object: Materiality, Media, Design

Introduction: Opening Experimental Book Objects-The Heterogeneity of the Codex of the Twenty-First Century

Sami Sjöberg, Mikko Keskinen, Arja Karhumaa 2023 The Experimental Book Object: Materiality, Media, Design

The Experimental Book Object: Materiality, Media, Design

Sami Sjöberg, Keskinen Mikko, Arja Karhumaa 2023

Kid Kokko: Katoaminen – Passio

Arja Karhumaa, Kid Kokko 2022

Nausikaa

Arja Karhumaa, Haasjoki Pauliina 2022