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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final important works. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, encouraging artists and creatives to resist the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his last days, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “There was 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 financial support or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its impact can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to mark its decade milestone. Included in the key participants taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), biology (studying the genetic makeup), and history (researching the stories of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected 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 prompting them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors exploring Tate Modern on a quest to find the ice masses that have been vanished in recent years. Each glacier will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is sharing her musical project, 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 collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from everyone. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor commenced following he faced three incidents of discrimination on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since grown to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the clear connection – 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 reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and