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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, urging artists and creatives to resist the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his final years, remembers his sense of urgency. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its decade milestone. Included in the key participants involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (calculating the gaps in the orchard), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants searching a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been vanished in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a bell will ring and a reading will be performed to commemorate that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a shared meal, prepared with sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover an art space in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a awareness of obligation from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention 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 conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and