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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting global challenges from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, remembers his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” 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

Ten years later, the initiative hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in initiatives like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is relaunching it to celebrate its decade milestone. Part of the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see the variety and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

In London, one artist’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a performance will be performed to commemorate that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in another location, a creative will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a community dinner, made using regional food. Further north, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and it may inspire a awareness of obligation from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and making sure that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. That ongoing series started after he endured several events of discrimination on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since spiralled to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and