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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Recognized for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, encouraging cultural workers to oppose the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had 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 authorize this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, Remember Nature did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Among the featured creators taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. Each has created visual art, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about maths (calculating the planting intervals), biology (exploring the apple’s DNA), and geography (mapping the stories of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Each has stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

In London, one artist’s project on disappearance will engage visitors looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to remember that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to fill an art space in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will provoke a feeling of duty from each person. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he experienced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared 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 very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy 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. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on the event day is to place blooms 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 incidents and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and