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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last important works. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing global challenges from peace activism to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he announced, inviting artists and creatives to resist the continuing disappearance of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about mathematics (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (researching the backgrounds of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

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

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring a major gallery on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to commemorate that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and it may inspire a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for the event he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor started after he faced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – 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 bad quality,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and