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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last significant endeavors. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be observed in initiatives 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 celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time 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 the artist, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the journeys of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see their names and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be drawn on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be performed to commemorate that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from regional food. Further north, an artist is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate an art space in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can inspire a awareness of obligation from each person. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he endured three incidents of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and