I’m living and working in Espoo, the City next to Helsinki. Espoo is the second biggest city in Finland with more than 300000 habitants. Still, Espoo is a place you pass on your way to Helsinki without noticing it. It’s like a large suburb area on the west side of the capital. You can’t find road signs indicating the remaining kilometers to Espoo, because there aren’t any. All roads lead to Helsinki.
There is no city center in Espoo, but several “centers” around big shopping malls. There is no proper public transport inside Espoo. But, as I said, all roads, railway and metro goes to Helsinki. Cultural life, cinema and libraries, is connected to Espoo’s shopping malls and to places where the metro passes.
There is one art gallery at Sello’s shopping mall, the one the local art society Espoon kuvataiteilijat keeps. And there are few library related and other spaces for sunday painters to exhibit their watercolors. But there are no galleries held by professional gallerists in Espoo. All gallery life and exhibitions are happening at Helsinki.
Maybe the reason for this is that gallerists don’t believe in Espoo as a proper market place to have a gallery. Espoo is a bit of an unfriendly environment for galleries with its shopping mall centers. What would be an ideal place for a gallery in Espoo? I have lived and worked here for decades and I know the city. But I have no idea what might be a good place for an art gallery. Somewhere near The Art Museum Emma? Maybe.
If I want to see art I go to Helsinki. For me it’s easier to go to Helsinki than to the Emma Art Museum at Tapiola, in the southern part of Espoo. And there is still that question: Why go only to Emma when there are multiple choices and so much more to see in Helsinki?