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Opera House Reopens With a Concert Performed for Potted Plants

5 min read

Inspiring People
Opera House Reopens With a Concert Performed for Potted Plants
Source: ElPaís

Barcelona’s Liceu opera reopened its doors for the first time in more than three months to hold a concert – exclusively for a quiet, leafy audience of nearly 2,300 house plants.

Concert for the Biocene

On the first day after Spain’s state of alarm instituted due to the pandemic was lifted, the Gran Teatre del Liceu reopened its doors, but it did so for an unusual audience. Conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia prepared an original, unique and different concert, in which the 2,292 seats of the auditorium were occupied on this occasion by plants. On 22 June at 5:00 p.m., broadcast live online, the UceLi Quartet string quartet performed Puccini’s “Crisantemi” for this verdant public, brought in from local nurseries.  

After a strange, painful period, the creator, the Liceu’s artistic director and the curator Blanca de la Torre offer us a different perspective for their return to activity.
A perspective that brings us closer to something as essential as our relationship with nature. After a strange, painful period, the creator, the Liceu’s artistic director and the curator Blanca de la Torre offer us a different perspective for their return to activity. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
After the concert, the plants will be donated with a certificate from the artist to 2,292 people who have been on the healthcare frontlines, the toughest front in a battle unprecedented for our generations, in recognition of their work.
Plants for healthcare workers. After the concert, the plants will be donated with a certificate from the artist to 2,292 people who have been on the healthcare frontlines, the toughest front in a battle unprecedented for our generations, in recognition of their work. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
Both will be part of the Contemporary Art Collection of “la Caixa”.
As a part of the artistic action, during the concert Eugenio Ampudia produced pictures and a video of the performance. Both will be part of the Contemporary Art Collection of “la Caixa”. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
The Project is posible thanks to the sponsors of la Fundació “la Caixa”, DKV Seguros, Airpharm Logistics, Fundació Lluís Coromina and Cuatrecasas.
The concert was an initiative from the Liceu, the artist and Max Estrella gallery. The Project is posible thanks to the sponsors of la Fundació “la Caixa”, DKV Seguros, Airpharm Logistics, Fundació Lluís Coromina and Cuatrecasas. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
“The Liceu, one of the largest and most important opera halls in the world, thus welcomes and leads a highly symbolic act that defends the value of art, music and nature as a letter of introduction to our return to activity.”
The Liceu Website states: “The Liceu, one of the largest and most important opera halls in the world, thus welcomes and leads a highly symbolic act that defends the value of art, music and nature as a letter of introduction to our return to activity.” Source: liceubarcelona.cat
This dialogue between the Teatre and the visual arts gives continuity to the artistic Liceu de les Arts project being implemented by Víctor Garcia de Gomar and will also be the prelude to the 2020/21 season, full of synergies and encounters between artistic disciplines.
A multidisciplinary arts venue for plants and people alike This dialogue between the Teatre and the visual arts gives continuity to the artistic Liceu de les Arts project being implemented by Víctor Garcia de Gomar and will also be the prelude to the 2020/21 season, full of synergies and encounters between artistic disciplines. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
comments Eugenio Ampudia on the inspiration of the artwork. ‘I heard many more birds singing. and the plants in my garden and outside growing faster. and, without a doubt, I thought that maybe I could now relate in a much more intimate way with people and nature.’
“I watched what was going on with nature during all this time,” comments Eugenio Ampudia on the inspiration of the artwork. ‘I heard many more birds singing. and the plants in my garden and outside growing faster. and, without a doubt, I thought that maybe I could now relate in a much more intimate way with people and nature.’ Source: liceubarcelona.cat
that like the opera hall, our circumstances have forced us to abstain from many of the things that make us feel most alive, the most human, leaving them instead to be occupied by nature.
No social distancing or masks were required for the Concert for Biocene, which was designed as a reflection on the strangeness of the current human condition— that like the opera hall, our circumstances have forced us to abstain from many of the things that make us feel most alive, the most human, leaving them instead to be occupied by nature. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
The performance continues with the dialogue between the opera house and the arts that Garcia de Gomar wants to develop within his artistic project and the prelude to a 2020/21 season full of synergies and encounters between different artistic disciplines.
“ it was like ‘a visual poem, both a subtle metaphor but one which makes us smile,’ said the liceu’s artistic director Victor Garcia de Gomar. The performance continues with the dialogue between the opera house and the arts that Garcia de Gomar wants to develop within his artistic project and the prelude to a 2020/21 season full of synergies and encounters between different artistic disciplines. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
After a strange, painful period, the creator, the Liceu’s artistic director and the curator Blanca de la Torre offer us a different perspective for our return to activity, a perspective that brings us closer to something as essential as our relationship with nature.
Concert programmes in both Castellano and Catalan After a strange, painful period, the creator, the Liceu’s artistic director and the curator Blanca de la Torre offer us a different perspective for our return to activity, a perspective that brings us closer to something as essential as our relationship with nature. Source: liceubarcelona.cat
“At a time when a large part of humanity has been confined to reduced spaces and been forced to renounce to mobility, nature has moved in to occupy the space that we took from it,” added the artist, saying that the performance also aimed to underscore the possibility of “extending the concept of empathy to other species.”
“We had to tell the plants something specific, to tell them what we’d been through during this time, and tell it in the form of music, which is the language that I am sure they understand,” said Ampudia. “At a time when a large part of humanity has been confined to reduced spaces and been forced to renounce to mobility, nature has moved in to occupy the space that we took from it,” added the artist, saying that the performance also aimed to underscore the possibility of “extending the concept of empathy to other species.” Source: liceubarcelona.cat

Barcelona’s opera performs for a leafy audience Barcelona’s Liceu opera reopened its doors for the first time in more than three months to hold a concert - exclusively for a quiet, leafy audience of nearly 2,300 house plants. Source: YouTube/Reuters
Concierto para el BiocenoSource: YouTube/LiceuOperaBarcelona

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