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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Recognized for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, encouraging cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “The mission is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, recalls his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its impact can still be felt in movements like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. This is the reason she is restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with the artist, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (calculating the gaps in the orchard), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will engage visitors looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, prepared with organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled 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 inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. The project began when he faced three incidents of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes 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 4 November is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and