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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Recognized for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting human struggles from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the project hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the featured creators involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. Each has created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing one participant, she is working outdoors in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (spacing the distances between trees), biology (exploring the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the stories of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Each has stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot 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 what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through an art institution on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a open display about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that document their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. That ongoing series began when he experienced several events of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since expanded to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – 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 intention on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the events and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and