Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate important works. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.
“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”
The Birth of Nature Remembrance
Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”
A Decade Later
Ten years later, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the featured creators involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. Each has produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.
Sowing Change
When speaking to the artist, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), science (studying the genetic makeup), and geography (tracing the stories of how different apples came to the UK).
A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap
“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have background narratives. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”
The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see their names and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”
Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain
In London, one artist’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that particular glacier.
At the same time, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a public show about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, made using organic, local produce. In another city, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.
Youth Perspectives
Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can provoke a awareness of obligation from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and making sure that they get a future.”
Remembrance and Reflection
Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project began when he experienced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since expanded to cover events experienced 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 direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.
The intention on the event day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.
Progressing Optimistically
The artist wishes his work – and
