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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate major projects. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a international event to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of species. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his later life, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, Remember Nature hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in campaigns like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. That’s why she is reviving it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with one participant, she is working outdoors in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the distances between trees), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and origins (researching the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s project on disappearance will engage visitors exploring Tate Modern on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to commemorate that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, 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.

Young Insights

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to fill an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can provoke a feeling of duty from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about optimism and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. The project commenced following he endured several events of discrimination on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and