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Artist Outi Pieski in front of the Keski-Pasila primary school and daycare, where her work \u010cSV \u00e1igi was installed in 2025. Photo: Maija Toivanen, HAM Helsinki Art Museum <\/p>\n
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Artist Outi Pieski in front of the Keski-Pasila primary school and daycare, where her work \u010cSV \u00e1igi was installed in 2025. Photo: Maija Toivanen, HAM Helsinki Art Museum <\/p>\n
Helsinki,\u00a031\u00a0March 2026\u00a0\u2013\u00a0In 2026, Helsinki is offering a unique opportunity to explore S\u00e1mi culture through two major exhibitions. We Who Remain opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma on 27 March, and an exhibition on the life of S\u00e1mi in Helsinki will open at the Helsinki City Museum in November. These exhibitions invite international visitors to discover S\u00e1mi identity, art and everyday life in an accessible urban setting.<\/p>\n
Helsinki is one of the largest and most vibrant centres of S\u00e1mi life in Finland. The S\u00e1mi are the only officially recognised indigenous people within the European Union, with a history that stretches back thousands of years. Their traditional homeland, S\u00e1pmi, spans across northern Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia\u2019s Kola Peninsula. <\/p>\n
In Helsinki, S\u00e1mi language and culture are present in education, particularly in Pasila, where the southernmost S\u00e1mi-language class in Finland provides teaching in Northern S\u00e1mi language and culture from early childhood to school level. The teaching is based on S\u00e1mi values such as community, connection to nature, cultural identity and equality. In 2025, this context was complemented by artist Outi Pieski\u2019s permanent public artwork \u010cSV \u00e1igi, curated by HAM Helsinki Art Museum and financed through the Percent for Art principle. The art work is installed in the same daycare and school building where S\u00e1mi-language education is provided, making S\u00e1mi culture visible in everyday environments. Its title refers to key aspects of S\u00e1mi identity, and the acronym \u010cSV is commonly understood as \u010c\u00e1jet S\u00e1mi Vuoi\u014b\u014ba \u2013 \u201cShow the S\u00e1mi spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n
For visitors, the two major S\u00e1mi exhibitions in Helsinki in 2026 offer a rare perspective and chance to encounter living S\u00e1mi culture beyond the Arctic region.<\/p>\n
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Tomas Colbengtson\u2019s work In Between Colonisation in Kiasma\u2019s We Who Remain exhibition. Photo: Petri Virtanen, Finnish National Gallery<\/p>\n
Kiasma: We Who Remain<\/p>\n
Jointly presented by\u00a0Kiasma\u00a0and the S\u00e1mi Museum\u00a0Siida, the exhibition We Who Remain brings together contemporary S\u00e1mi art from across the S\u00e1pmi territories of Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The exhibition opened at Kiasma on 27 March 2026 and runs until 6 September 2026.<\/p>\n
The exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to experience S\u00e1mi culture through contemporary art \u2013 told from S\u00e1mi perspectives. Featuring more than twenty artists, the exhibition focuses primarily on works from the 2000s to the 2020s, while also including a selection of earlier pieces, the oldest dating to the 1970s. Together, they reflect a period in which S\u00e1mi society has strengthened its position in Nordic legislation and gained growing international recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cContrasts are ever-present in S\u00e1mi contemporary art. The works convey the sensitivity and emotional depth of S\u00e1mi life, while also revealing the forces that have hardened us and shaped us into survivors. For S\u00e1mi visitors, they reflect our community\u2019s self-respect, joys and sorrows. For Finnish audiences, they offer distinctly S\u00e1mi perspectives on S\u00e1mi life,\u201d says curator Petra Laiti.<\/p>\n
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Books in S\u00e1mi languages at Oodi Central Library. Photo: Daniel Leivisk\u00e4, City of Helsinki<\/p>\n
Helsinki City Museum to present S\u00e1mi life in Helsinki<\/p>\n
Opening in November 2026, a new exhibition at the Helsinki City Museum will explore what it means to live as a S\u00e1mi in a modern capital city, offering visitors an intimate look into their everyday life, identity and community in Helsinki. The exhibition reflects the Helsinki City Museum\u2019s broader vision of promoting and highlighting the diversity of life in the city.<\/p>\n
While S\u00e1mi life in Helsinki takes many forms, it is united by strong connections to family, S\u00e1mi languages and cultural heritage. The exhibition is curated by a S\u00e1mi curatorial team: Aimo Aikio, Laura Feodoroff, Helmi Hagelin and Mari Gauriloff.<\/p>\n
The exhibition will be preceded by an innovative documentation project in which S\u00e1mi residents of Helsinki will produce materials themselves, either individually or in small groups. Participants will decide on the content, methods and archiving of the material. The project is being carried out in collaboration with S\u00e1mi organisations based in Helsinki.<\/p>\n
The exhibition invites visitors to learn, reflect and encounter S\u00e1mi culture in new ways. It aims to increase awareness and appreciation, while addressing the lack of knowledge that still surrounds Europe\u2019s only recognised indigenous people.<\/p>\n
More information<\/p>\n