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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his last major projects. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, notes his drive for action. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the project did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (calculating the planting intervals), science (exploring the genetic makeup), and geography (tracing the stories of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. They all have background narratives. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a performance will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, made using regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may provoke a sense of responsibility from everyone. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. This endeavor began when he faced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since grown to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and