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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing human struggles from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. Each has created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), science (exploring the hereditary traits), and history (tracing the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. They all have histories attached. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

In London, one artist’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching Tate Modern on a journey to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in recent years. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a performance will be held to honor that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, prepared with regional food. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and making sure that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he experienced three incidents of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since grown to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – 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 plan on the event day is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and