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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final significant endeavors. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to global challenges from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the ongoing loss of species. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his last days, notes his sense of urgency. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in movements like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the featured creators participating now are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. Each has created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about maths (spacing the planting intervals), biology (studying the genetic makeup), and history (researching the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries background narratives. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been lost in modern times. Each glacier will be depicted on the museum surfaces using special pens. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. The project began when he endured several events of prejudice on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and