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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last important works. Famed for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to oppose the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

Thus Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is relaunching it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is on site in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (researching the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces red juice

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped 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 prompting them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will involve participants searching a major gallery on a quest to find the ice masses that have been vanished in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a reading will be performed to remember that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a community dinner, made using regional food. Further north, a participant is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to decorate a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can provoke a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he endured three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, 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. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently birds consume 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. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and