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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Recognized for creating self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his final years, notes his feeling of immediacy. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the project hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be felt in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their work. That’s why she is reviving it to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists participating now are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. All participants have designed posters, shared messages, and produced installations set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is out in a field in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Engaging 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 distances between trees), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and history (tracing the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see the variety and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s Book of Loss will involve participants looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in the past decade. All formations will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to remember that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. That ongoing series commenced following he experienced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to cover events reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and