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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to human struggles from peace activism to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his last days, remembers his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be felt in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. Each has created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the gaps in the orchard), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and geography (mapping the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see the variety and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors looking through a major gallery on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in recent years. Each glacier will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be performed to commemorate that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Further north, an artist is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill an art space in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and it may provoke a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he experienced several events of discrimination on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” 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 slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and