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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging cultural workers to resist the steady eradication of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, notes his drive for action. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in campaigns like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their work. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the featured creators taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have designed posters, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), biology (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how distinct varieties 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 crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries background narratives. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

She hoped 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 find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

In London, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in modern times. Each glacier will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a alert will occur and a performance will be held to remember that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will stimulate a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to tackle a local symbol. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. This endeavor started after he faced three incidents of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since spiralled to cover events reported 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 ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy 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 reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and