Image credit: Zane Shumeiko, Mixed Media Art
The research cluster on “Creativity, AI, and the Human” at Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh is delighted to join a new collaboration with the newly established Centre for Aesthetics and Business Creativity (ABC) at Lund University School of Economics and Management, the Malmö Academy of Music, and the Inter Arts Centre (IAC).
This interdisciplinary partnership promises to explore the untapped intersections of business studies, aesthetics, creativity studies, and the fine and performing arts. A key focus in this collaboration is to understand how entrepreneurial opportunities emerge in the musical and performing arts and how collective creativity is organised and led.
This collaboration is strengthened by the OPERACTIVE project, initiated by Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at ABC and the University of Edinburgh, as well as a Research Associate at the Centre for Data, Culture and Society based at Edinburgh Futures Institute.
OPERACTIVE is a practice-led research project that address critical challenges in audience participation and inclusive engagement within classical music and opera. The project aims to transition heritage art forms like opera into the digital era by designing gamified, interactive experiences that engage diverse audiences, diversify revenue streams, prototype innovative virtual concert venues, and secure the cultural sustainability of classical arts.
A standout feature of the project is the collaborative development of Yūrei (Ghost) of the AI Empire, an immersive chamber opera that fuses Japanese folklore and Kabuki theatre with European operatic traditions. This semi-improvised, AI-driven production weaves a compelling tale of love, betrayal, and digital immortality. The opera will debut with a pilot performance in Edinburgh in spring 2025, followed by a series of global performances featuring an international cast and crew from Scotland and Scandinavia.
Dr Huang-Kokina said:
I am delighted to bring a new AI-driven immersive opera to life, building on my research on audience engagement and opera innovation at the University of Edinburgh and Lund University. This opera pilot will premiere at the upcoming EFI conference, Creative Digital Dynamics II: Symposium on AI & Digital Innovations for Voice and Vocal Music, where music AI researchers from the U.K., Europe, and beyond will join to explore AI’s transformative role in the creative industries and our daily lives. This event is just the beginning of many exciting collaborations between ABC, MHM, IAC and EFI, and we look forward to many more inspiring ventures together.
The OPERACTIVE project builds on Dr Huang-Kokina’s ongoing work at the University of Edinburgh, facilitating new collaborations with Edinburgh Futures Institute’s new research cluster “Creativity, AI, and the Human”, led by Dr Caterina Moruzzi.
Dr Moruzzi said:
“I am very excited about the start of this collaboration, which exemplifies the transformative potential of interdisciplinary synergies, and I am happy for the research cluster at EFI to be part of it. It is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate how research at the intersection of creativity and technology can not only expand the horizons of creativity and cultural accessibility but also rethink how entrepreneurial and organizational studies engage with the arts.”
