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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last important works. Recognized for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing global challenges from peace activism to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, urging artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his sense of urgency. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the initiative may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be felt in movements like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. That’s why she is restaging it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with the artist, she is out in a field in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about measurements (measuring out the distances between trees), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (researching the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that produces scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to fill an art space in children’s artwork that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and it may provoke a feeling of duty from everyone. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. This endeavor began when he endured several events of prejudice on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – 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 terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and