Barcelona’s opera house has celebrated its reopening to the public since the coronavirus pandemic put the world at a standstill, but their opening night had an unusual audience. For its first concert, the theatre forwent the usual crowd of people and instead packed the house with plants. Yes, that’s correct. All 2,292 seats at the Gran Teatre Liceu were occupied by leafy green plants. The idea was conceived by conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia and was broadcast live on the theatre’s website. These lucky ficus trees, palms, and Swiss cheese plants-which were brought in by local nurseries-got the pleasure of hearing Puccini’s Crisantemi performed by the UceLi Quartet string quartet. Ampudia hopes that the work will inspire people to think more deeply about their relationship with nature and the concept of sustainability. “We are at the end of an era and that means that we have to change certain paradigms,” he shares.