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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Famed for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting global challenges from peace activism to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in campaigns like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their work. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Included in the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about maths (spacing the distances between trees), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the backgrounds of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. They all have background narratives. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will engage visitors searching an art institution on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to commemorate that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, cooked from organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that express their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can provoke a sense of responsibility from each person. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series commenced following he experienced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and