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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, inviting cultural workers to oppose the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, 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 – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the project hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in movements like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about measurements (measuring out the planting intervals), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (tracing the journeys of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries stories behind them. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will involve participants exploring an art institution on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series began when he experienced several events of prejudice on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

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

The plan on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and