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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate important works. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing human struggles from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be felt in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. All participants have designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to the artist, she is out in a field in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the planting intervals), science (studying the genetic makeup), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries stories behind them. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of nature and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover an art space in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from each person. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is planning to tackle a local symbol. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and