🔗 Share this article

During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the project did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be felt in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is restaging it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), biology (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases red juice. They all have histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in 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 Throughout Britain

Within the city, a participant’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring a major gallery on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in another location, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project started after he faced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from 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 plan on 4 November is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and