GTMO 441: Games, Detention and Power

A two-week experimental prototyping residency in Dundee to develop ideas and approaches for a video game based on Mansoor Adayfi’s 14-year imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay without charge.

The residency brought together Adayfi with artists, designers, writers, and researchers to explore the challenges of representing carceral systems through play. Through residency remarkably and rapidly created four prototype experiences in three days, and was a creative & ethical testing ground for the game’s structure, tone, and mechanics.

Hosted by Biome Collective, the residency focussed on risk reduction through collaborative workshops, rapid prototyping, and public feedback. The goal was not to complete a single game but to define its creative foundations and boundaries, and to identify the most resonant and responsible paths forward. This early-stage development is critical to ensuring a sustainable approach, development, impact, accessibility, and integrity moving forward.

The project was led by Biome Collective and supported by Abertay University researchers, working alongside Mansoor Adayfi, memoir co-writer Antonio Aiello, and an international team of scholars, artists, and technologists committed to work that is artistically innovative, ethically grounded, and emotionally resonant.