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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of species. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, notes his drive for action. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, Remember Nature may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their work. This is the reason she is relaunching it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (spacing the planting intervals), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

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

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see the variety and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees searching a major gallery on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in another location, an artist will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using sustainable ingredients. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a feeling of duty from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’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 event he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. The project commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced 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.”

Harfleet chose the pansy 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. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and