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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final major projects. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his last days, notes his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be seen in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Included in the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

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

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a performance will be performed to honor that individual formation.

At the same time, up in a northern town, a creative will be putting on a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from regional food. Further north, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate an art space in children’s artwork that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the event he is planning to tackle a local symbol. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he experienced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is 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 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and