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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Famed for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its impact can still be observed in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the key participants involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (spacing the planting intervals), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and geography (tracing the journeys of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring an art institution on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. All formations will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a performance will be conducted to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be hosting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a shared meal, made using regional food. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is aiming to represent an iconic figure. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. The project began when he faced several events of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since expanded to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose 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. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the events and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and