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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in campaigns like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is restaging it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Among the 18 lead artists involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (tracing the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in recent years. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a performance will be performed to commemorate that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to decorate an art space in youth creations that express their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will provoke a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is planning to address a local symbol. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project began when he experienced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes 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 project on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and