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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his last major projects. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, urging artists and creatives to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a great 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.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), biology (exploring the apple’s DNA), and geography (tracing the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck 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 get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be held to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in another location, an artist will be presenting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, made using organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to fill a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can provoke a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the event he is aiming to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project commenced following he experienced several events of prejudice on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from 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 intention on 4 November is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences 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