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Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a international event to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, notes his drive for action. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be seen in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, shared messages, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about maths (spacing the planting intervals), science (exploring the hereditary traits), and history (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces red juice

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants exploring Tate Modern on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, a creative will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, prepared with regional food. In another city, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to fill an art space in youth creations that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may inspire a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. This endeavor began when he experienced several events of prejudice on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day 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 guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and