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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final major projects. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, inviting cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, notes his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the project may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be seen in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their work. This is the reason she is restaging it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Among the key participants taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have designed posters, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), genetics (studying the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to remember that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, made using sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. This endeavor started after he experienced several events of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project 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 discussing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and