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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final significant endeavors. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

Thus Remember Nature came into being, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be observed in movements like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is working outdoors in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (spacing the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries background narratives. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to read the label and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring an art institution on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a performance will be performed to honor that individual formation.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be presenting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a community dinner, made using regional food. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that express their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. This endeavor started after he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to place blooms 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 events and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and