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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Famed for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing human struggles from peace activism to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting cultural workers to oppose the ongoing loss of species. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are inherently creative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

In this way the environmental art day came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his later life, remembers his sense of urgency. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its influence can still be felt in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (spacing the distances between trees), biology (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been lost in modern times. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, an artist will be hosting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which local singers undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series commenced following he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is 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 intention on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and