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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to human struggles from peace activism to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, notes his feeling of immediacy. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the environmental impact of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Part of the key participants involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and geography (mapping the stories of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. Each has background narratives. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped 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 encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see their names and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, a participant’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a chime will sound and a performance will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that express their hopes and fears for the future. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor began when he faced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a single 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 incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to sow flowers at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and