🔗 Share this article

In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Recognized for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging cultural workers to oppose the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

And so the environmental art day came into being, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its influence can still be observed in initiatives like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Among the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the planting intervals), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and origins (researching the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

Within the city, one artist’s project on disappearance will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a reading will be performed to commemorate that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in another location, a creative will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project began when he endured multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy 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. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on the event day 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 incidents and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and