🔗 Share this article

In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the ongoing loss of species. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, notes his feeling of immediacy. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

Interviewing one participant, she is out in a field in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (mapping the stories of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Every one carries background narratives. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see the variety and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

Within the city, a participant’s Book of Loss will involve participants exploring an art institution on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a performance will be held to remember that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in another location, a creative will be presenting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as holding a shared meal, made using regional food. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill a cultural venue in youth creations that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will inspire a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is aiming to represent an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. The project commenced following he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and