Partners from across Europe
Meet the consortium
Two major Horizon Europe projects coordinated by the School of Arts, Design and Architecture strengthen Aalto’s role in European multidisciplinary research and create new connections between art, design, technology, business and society.
Aalto ARTS has achieved a significant milestone in European research funding, with two major Horizon Europe projects led by the school starting in 2026. VOPUS and MELANGE bring together art, design, technology and business while creating new forms of collaboration with cultural institutions and industry. Both projects are coordinated by professors leading Horizon Europe consortia for the first time. MELANGE is led by Professor Maarit Salolainen and VOPUS by Professor Anniina Toiviainen.
The two projects address very different fields, but they share a common approach: research questions are developed through multidisciplinary collaboration and close engagement with organisations outside academia.
MELANGE explores how design can transform colouration practices in the European interior textile industry. The approximately M€4 project combines textile and interior design with expertise in industrial production, supply chains, business and marketing. At Aalto, School of Science and School of Business bring complementary expertise to that of Aalto ARTS.
VOPUS, with M€3.5 in Horizon Europe funding, VOPUS is an EU-funded research project exploring how opera in virtual worlds can strengthen participation, wellbeing and social cohesion. Its central research environment, Operaland, is being developed together with three European opera houses and other research and innovation partners. At Aalto, the project links expertise from ARTS, the School of Science and Aalto Studios/MAGICS.
Maarit Salolainen, Anniina Toiviainen and Antti Ruotoistenmäki presented MELANGE and VOPUS projects in Coordinators’ Day in Brussels 14-15 September, together with other projects under same topics within Cluster 2 Culture, Creativity and Inclusive society. Related projects take complementary viewpoints to design for sustainable competitiveness and effects of virtualization on culture. Further collaboration between the different consortia will boost the dissemination and communication of the projects’ outcomes, in particular policy implications and recommendations.
For Aalto ARTS, the two Horizon Europe projects mark an important step in increasing the school’s visibility and influence in the European research and arts community.
One opera house begins bringing elements of a production into Operaland.
A second house joins, combining content and audiences within Operaland.
Several opera houses converge within Operaland at once.
VOPUS - Virtual World Opera for Participation, Unity, and Social Cohesion.
A Horizon Europe research project.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.