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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last important works. Known for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, urging makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of species. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the project hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be observed in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Part of the key participants taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (exploring the apple’s DNA), and history (tracing the journeys of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to read the label and see what they’re called and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, a participant’s Book of Loss will engage visitors exploring a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. Each glacier will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a alert will occur and a reading will be held to honor that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Over in Newcastle, an artist is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will inspire a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending 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 recent decades. The project began when he faced several events of discrimination on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – 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 plan on 4 November is to plant pansies at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and