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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, inviting cultural workers to stand against the continuing disappearance of living beings. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was established, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, recalls his sense of urgency. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its impact can still be seen in campaigns like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. Each has designed posters, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the apple’s DNA), and geography (mapping the stories of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature 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, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see their names and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

At the capital, one artist’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through an art institution on a journey to find the ice masses that have been vanished in the past decade. All formations will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to commemorate that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate an art space in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. The project began when he faced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to place blooms at fresh spots and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and