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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Recognized for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the project did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in movements like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their work. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Among the 18 lead artists participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. They have all designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), biology (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world 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 the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to remember that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that express their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is planning to represent a local symbol. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project began when he endured multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since expanded to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected 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 became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and