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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last significant endeavors. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Through a short 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 the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the ongoing loss of species. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its impact can still be seen in movements like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. That’s why she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Among the 18 lead artists participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. All participants have designed posters, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (tracing the backgrounds of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has stories behind them. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors looking through a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. All formations will be drawn on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, an artist will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from sustainable ingredients. Further north, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which local singers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to cover a cultural venue in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. This endeavor started after he experienced three incidents of discrimination on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since grown to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to place blooms at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and