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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Famed for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to human struggles 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, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging cultural workers to stand against the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, notes his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be seen in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. For this purpose she is restaging it to celebrate its decade milestone. Among the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all produced imagery, shared messages, and produced installations set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is out in a field in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (spacing the planting intervals), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will engage visitors looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a chime will sound and a recitation will be conducted to honor that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will provoke a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is intending to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. The project began when he faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – 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 project on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the events and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and