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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last significant endeavors. Famed for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of species. “The mission is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, remembers his sense of urgency. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the initiative may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their methods. For this purpose she is reviving it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with one participant, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), biology (exploring the hereditary traits), and origins (mapping the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

At the capital, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees searching Tate Modern on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a reading will be conducted to honor that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which local singers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to cover an art space in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will provoke 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 optimism and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is intending to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor started after he experienced several events of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and