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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Recognized for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our task is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way Remember Nature came into being, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the project may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its influence can still be felt in campaigns like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their work. That’s why she is restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the featured creators involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is out in a field in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (studying the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring an art institution on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be hosting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and making sure that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

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 intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project started after he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

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

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and