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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate important works. Recognized for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a international event 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, encouraging artists and creatives to oppose the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “The mission is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the project did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their work. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators participating now are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), genetics (exploring the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Each has background narratives. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see their names and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

At the capital, one artist’s project on disappearance will include attendees exploring a major gallery on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a chime will sound and a performance will be performed to remember that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be presenting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, made using regional food. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that express their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to tackle a local symbol. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. The project started after he faced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives 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 project 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 conversing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and