The sunny and calm midsummer afternoon weather attracted people to cycle to the beaches of Raahe and the old town. Many others had also come to enjoy the relaxed summer atmosphere of Wanhan Raahe. The ice cream kiosk at the beach market was the most obvious attraction on Midsummer’s Day. There were plenty of other things to experience.
As I cycled through Pekkatori and Langin Kauppahuone to Kirkkokatu, I stopped to marvel at the paintings that appeared on the Kauppahuone fence. Small information slips showed that it was a streetside exhibition organised jointly by Media Centre Lybecker and the Wanhan Raahe residents’ association. We have to see this in full! It seems worth keeping a closer eye on what art exhibitions there are in Raahe in the summer.
Although it is not an actual nature excursion destination, it is an outdoor excursion anyway – that’s why it has its place on the site raahenrannoilla.fi.
From the QR code, I could have downloaded a map of the summer street gallery. Personally, I proceeded with a clumsier solution, i.e. shooting the map through the glass of the information board I found later and drizzling my low-quality shot from the mobile phone screen.
The names of the gallery works and the authors of the works can be found on the back of the information tickets.
On the corner of Kirkkokatu and Cortenkatu, there was a presentation of the summer street gallery with maps. The works of Lybecker’s students will be on display until the Night of the Arts on 16.8.2024.
I decided to do a full gallery tour and start it on Reiponkatu at Sofia’s House, where the opening of Kinosalonki Sofia had been held earlier in June. Raahe offers a variety of visual cultures both indoors and outdoors! Kinosalonki organises a new Dark Pictures festival during the darkrooms in Raahe, during which outdoor films are screened, among other things.
I adventured in the summer street gallery, sometimes cycling and sometimes walking. In this way, the length of the route was about two kilometers. There are several one-way streets in Wanha Raahe, so just driving would have made the route look and length completely different.
The first work I found was Jessica Tran’s “The Ship That Glides in the Crash”. It was located at Koulukatu 23 on the wall facing Reiponkatu.
On Ämmänkatu, I was amused by a small detail placed by Sara Koskinen in her painting.
Four photographs taken by Johanna Ben Ammar were found on Saaristokatu, printed on canvas.
The fence at Brahenkatu 1 was decorated with Iiris Pietilä’s painting “Odotus”. The work fit well into the historical milieu of the museum beach. In the Summer Street Gallery there was plenty to see not only in the works but also in their surroundings.
All the works deserved to be presented separately. The best way to get an idea of the pictures is to go around and see. The bright summer evenings of the Nordic countries make it possible to explore the gallery for an evening stroll, for example.
At the end of the gallery tour, I popped into the marina to see if the city rowing boat Smitti would be in place. It can be borrowed free of charge for two hours at a time from Praat, the living room of the services. You can also borrow city bikes there nowadays! Leisurely cycling has been tested as a great way to introduce Wanhaa Raahe and its seaside scenery to visitors.
N.B! Praat’s services have temporarily moved to the summer point of the Main Library, which is open 10.7.-30.8.2024. Read more here.
