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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

Thus Remember Nature was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain 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. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be felt in movements like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their work. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the key participants taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all produced imagery, shared messages, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the gaps in the orchard), biology (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

Within the city, one artist’s Book of Loss will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. All formations will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a recitation will be performed to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as holding a communal feast, made using regional food. Further north, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to tackle an iconic figure. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. That ongoing series started after he experienced three incidents of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents 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 ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, 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 conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and