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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, inviting cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day came into being, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his last days, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, Remember Nature did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its influence can still be felt in movements like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. They have all produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is out in a field in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (spacing the distances between trees), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and geography (tracing the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Each has histories attached. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a performance will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a communal feast, made using sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a awareness of obligation from everyone. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. 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 commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to place blooms at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and