“Steller’s sea cow, Stellers sjöko, Hydrodamalis gigas: The first animal that forced humankind to take a hard look at itself.”

In an exhibition hall at the Natural History Museum in Helsinki stands the skeleton of a Steller’s sea cow. Its journey there has spanned centuries and crossed the globe. The history of these bones encompasses a series of moments intertwined with the histories of both imperialism and the modern conservation movement.

Elolliset takes the audience on an expedition to the moment when the concept of extinction first emerged. The production reveals how Western humanity awoke to the devastating fact that, if we choose, we can erase individual living beings—and entire species—from existence.

Through museum display cases assembled and dismantled on stage, a view into the past unfolds before us, taking us to a distant shore where the first ripples of the sixth mass extinction are beginning to break. Elolliset examines the events of the sixth mass extinction without assigning blame, yet without shying away from responsibility.

With humour and wistfulness, it considers humanity’s faith in its own intellect and its feverish quest for reliable knowledge. The production invites us to ask: which beliefs does our own age regard as unquestionably certain and natural, only for future generations to prove them wrong?

Iida Turpeinen’s novel Elolliset is the most successful Finnish debut novel of all time. Published in 2023, it won the Helsingin Sanomat Debut Book Prize, was nominated for the Finlandia Prize, was featured on The New York Times list of recommended historical fiction, and its translation rights have now been sold in nearly 30 language territories.

The novel has been adapted for the stage by Pipsa Lonka, with the artistic design created by the WAUHAUS collective. Based in Helsinki, WAUHAUS is an award-winning multidisciplinary arts collective known for its immersive audiovisual stage aesthetics and collaborative approach to authorship.