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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Famed for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to global challenges from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, inviting artists and creatives to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility 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 Inception of Remember Nature

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, remembers his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, 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 movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. For this purpose she is reviving it to mark its decade milestone. Included in the key participants participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the planting intervals), biology (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Each has stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see their names and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s Book of Loss will involve participants exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a performance will be performed to commemorate that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Further north, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a feeling of duty from everyone. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. That ongoing series started after he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and