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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, notes his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative may not have 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 makers handle the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is restaging it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the key participants taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and geography (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed 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 buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see their names and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

In London, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in recent years. Each glacier will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a reading will be performed to honor that individual formation.

At the same time, up in another location, a creative will be hosting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will provoke a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he faced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since expanded to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems 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 slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and