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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Famed for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “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 fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “There was a strong 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 sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the project hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Part of the featured creators involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have background narratives. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck 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. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be performed to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using regional food. Further north, an artist is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to cover an art space in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and it may provoke a sense of responsibility from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series started after he experienced several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and