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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to human struggles from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, the project may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their work. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), science (discussing the apple’s DNA), and history (researching the backgrounds of how different apples came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

At the capital, one artist’s Book of Loss will include attendees searching an art institution on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a performance will be conducted to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, made using organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover an art space in youth creations that express their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will provoke a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to represent a local symbol. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. This endeavor commenced following he faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on 4 November 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 walking tour about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and