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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief 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 remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his final years, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, Remember Nature did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Part of the featured creators participating now are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (studying the apple’s DNA), and origins (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names 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 Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries background narratives. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

In London, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to remember that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Further north, an artist is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that document their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is planning to represent 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. That ongoing series started after he endured several events of prejudice on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – 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 project on the event day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the events and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and