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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting human struggles from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he requested support for a international event 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 stated, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the steady eradication of species. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

In this way the environmental art day came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his drive for action. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be seen in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Among the key participants involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. Each has produced imagery, shared messages, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (calculating the gaps in the orchard), science (discussing the apple’s DNA), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted 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 find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see their names and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through an art institution on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. Each glacier will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a performance will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. In another city, an artist is sharing her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to fill a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the future. “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 stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor began when he faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident 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 are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

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

The intention on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and