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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final major projects. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, urging artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its influence can still be felt in campaigns like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their practices. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the distances between trees), science (discussing the apple’s DNA), and history (researching the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see the variety and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will include attendees searching an art institution on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in the past decade. All formations will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to remember that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her environmental performance, in which local singers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to represent an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. The project began when he experienced three incidents of prejudice on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – 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 bad quality,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and