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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, urging makers and thinkers to resist the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his later life, notes his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the project did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in initiatives like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. That’s why she is reviving it to commemorate its decade milestone. Among the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. They all have histories attached. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring Tate Modern on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be performed to honor that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, prepared with regional food. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to decorate an art space in children’s artwork that express their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and it may stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’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 planning to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. The project started after he faced three incidents of prejudice on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since expanded to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – 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 bad quality,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his recollections. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and