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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to societal issues from peace activism to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he stated, inviting cultural workers to stand against the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our task is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. All participants have designed posters, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and origins (tracing the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see the variety and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

In London, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in modern times. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a performance will be held to commemorate that individual formation.

At the same time, up in another location, an artist will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, a participant is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. That ongoing series started after he faced several events of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and