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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate major projects. Recognized for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to resist 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 the arts will venture into realms that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be observed in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is reviving it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and geography (tracing the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will engage visitors searching a major gallery on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in the past decade. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be performed to remember that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, cooked from regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about optimism and making sure that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. The project commenced following he faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume 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 terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and