Text by Erika Benke
It’s a disused industrial building made of concrete that looks like a cathedral, designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto in 1931 as part of a cellulose factory.
The Toppila Silo captured the imagination of Eleftérios Kechagioglou at first sight. Kechagioglou has a passion for re-thinking abandoned industrial sites that have fallen into disrepair. His mission is to use them to bring art to people. He’s the director of Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde (PPCM), a French organisation staging performances that use circus arts as a tool for social change and community development.
Climbing over Oulu is a PPCM production that combines music, dance and circus aiming to create a new kind of dialogue between artists and ordinary citizens. Oulu is the fourth city In Europe where the show has been delivered, after performances in previous European capitals of culture in Greece, Romania and Hungary. But audiences in each location have had quite a different experience.
“The skeleton of the performance originates in Greece but the show is site-specific: we create a new version every time we take it to a new place,” explains Kechagioglou.
A core group of artists from France, Tunisia and Greece were joined by Finnish colleagues from Flow Productions to adapt the performance for Toppila Silo. According to Gaëtan Levêque, PPCM’s artistic director, the team added topics and themes related to the industrial heritage of Oulu.
“There were also some unique challenges: the silo’s uneven floor was one of them. Overcoming such challenges is a very rewarding part of our job,” points out Levêque.
The performers were inspired by being in a space that was originally designed to store wood chips in a factory. Dancer Lucille Chalopin admitted she experienced a mix of emotions. “The silo is a massive monument. One the one hand, it’s fragile and old. On the other hand it’s scary,” she admitted after climbing up a wall and performing a set of spectacular acrobatic moves during rehearsals.
The performance on June 13, 2024 marked the first occasion when an audience was allowed inside the silo since the Toppila Pulp Mill was closed in 1985. An estimated 350 people turned up to share the experience.
“When you don’t allow people into a building for almost 40 years, there’s a disconnection to history,” says Amine Slimani, an architect with PPCM. “We’re keen to understand the story of the building and the neighbourhood and help re-establish that connection.”
The audience’s reaction was a mix of awe, excitement and joy. There were gasps of amazement followed by thunderous applause. The energy in the crowd was palpable, with cheers and clasps building in intensity as each act reached its climax.
For one member of the audience, the performance brought back very special memories. Antero Marttila completed his summer work experience in the silo as a technical school student in the late 1950s. “It’s wonderful to see how much beauty can be created in such a rough industrial place,” he said.
Climbing over Oulu is produced by Le Plus Petit Cirque du Monde and Flow Productions for Oulu2026, in collaboration with Aalto Siilo ry and the Factum Foundation
