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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his last major projects. Known for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to human struggles from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a international event to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, notes his drive for action. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its impact can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their methods. This is the reason she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (researching the stories of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

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

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have 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.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in modern times. All formations will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be hosting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, cooked from organic, local produce. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are powerful 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 it may inspire a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to sow flowers at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and