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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Known for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support 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 reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, urging artists and creatives to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “The mission is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its legacy can still be seen in movements like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (spacing the distances between trees), genetics (studying the apple’s DNA), and history (researching the stories of how various cultivars came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Each has stories behind them. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors searching an art institution on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in modern times. Each glacier will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to honor that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, a creative will be putting on a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which local singers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to fill an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may provoke a feeling of duty from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor started after he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since grown to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and