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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final important works. Recognized for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for 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. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their work. This is the reason she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Included in the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the distances between trees), biology (exploring the apple’s DNA), and origins (mapping the journeys 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 produces scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety 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 power 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 what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

At the capital, one artist’s Book of Loss will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been lost in the past decade. All formations will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a alert will occur and a performance will be conducted to honor that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a community dinner, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Young Insights

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. This endeavor began when he experienced several events of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – 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 terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and