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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Famed for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, recalls his sense of urgency. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. That’s why she is relaunching it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Among the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the planting intervals), science (exploring the hereditary traits), and history (tracing the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces red juice

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been lost in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a performance will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful 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 perhaps it can provoke a awareness of obligation from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. The project began when he faced several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences reported 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 ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – 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 bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and