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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Known for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our task is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

Thus Remember Nature came into being, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the initiative may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its influence can still be felt in campaigns like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have designed posters, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about measurements (measuring out the planting intervals), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and geography (mapping 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 releases scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Every one carries stories behind them. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will include attendees looking through a major gallery on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be performed to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a communal feast, made using sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that document their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to represent a local symbol. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series began when he experienced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and