🔗 Share this article

In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Known for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a international event to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his last days, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its legacy can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), science (studying the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces red juice

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases red juice. They all have background narratives. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see their names and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s project on disappearance will engage visitors exploring a major gallery on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a recitation will be performed to honor that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a public show about our separation from nature, as well as holding a communal feast, prepared with regional food. In another city, an artist is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that document their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art 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 provoke a awareness of obligation from us all. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project commenced following he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the bloom not just for the obvious reason – 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 thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to sow flowers 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 incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and