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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging cultural workers to stand against the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in initiatives like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

Interviewing one participant, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and geography (mapping the journeys of how different apples were introduced to England).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Each has stories behind them. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

In London, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will engage visitors looking through Tate Modern on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been lost in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a chime will sound and a performance will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which local singers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging 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 homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and