Digital Natives? Saami Games Now!

Sámi perspectives in video games have become increasingly common since the 1980s. This exhibition celebrates the ability of the Sámi people to define their own place in the digital world. It invites visitors to experience how traditions, the present, and various futures converge in digital realms.

The exhibition brings together diverse manifestations of Sámi game development. The board games on display refer to craftsmanship and the longer traditions of gaming culture: they are concrete, tactile objects where the mark of the maker and materiality are at the core. Alongside them are local, communal, and broader commercial productions, as well as digital craftsmanship. This includes internationally acclaimed titles such as Skábma – Snowfall and Raanaa – The Shaman Girl, which represent the present day of Sámi game development.

The games featured have been created from Sámi starting points, highlighting Sámi agency in digital culture. By utilizing fiction and speculative futures, these games build a self-defined digital presence and open up space for imagination, alternatives, and new ways of storytelling. At the same time, they make it visible that traditional Sámi stories and characters are the collective intellectual property of the Sámi – a living heritage shared by the community and constantly renegotiated.

Dr. Outi Kaarina Laiti is a Sámi game researcher and designer at the University of Helsinki. Her work focuses on the intersections of education, computer science, and Sámi culture in video games and programming. Laiti promotes communal game development among the Sámi: between 2014 and 2023, more than a hundred game makers have produced over 40 games in the Utsjoki region and on digital platforms.

This exhibition has been realized with the support of the Kone Foundation’s project Biocultural Heritage and Non-linear Time.