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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final important works. Recognized for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of species. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, notes his drive for action. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its impact can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. This is the reason she is relaunching it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have created visual art, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (spacing the gaps in the orchard), biology (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (researching the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

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

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors searching a major gallery on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be presenting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using regional food. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. That ongoing series commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since expanded to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and