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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final important works. Known for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to oppose the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our task is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its impact can still be seen in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Included in the key participants taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about maths (spacing the distances between trees), science (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been lost in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from sustainable ingredients. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. 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 us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is planning to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project commenced following he faced three incidents of discrimination on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – 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 bad quality,” he says.

The project on the event day is to sow flowers 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 events and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and