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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Recognized for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, encouraging makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his last days, notes his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its impact can still be seen in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Included in the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how different apples came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see their names and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. Each glacier will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a performance will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a community dinner, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, an artist is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can provoke a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for the event he is intending to address a local symbol. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. The project commenced following he endured three incidents of prejudice on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since grown to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the clear connection – 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 plan on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and