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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Famed for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from peace activism to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting cultural workers to stand against the ongoing loss of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the featured creators involved this time are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. Each has created visual art, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is working outdoors in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (calculating the planting intervals), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and origins (tracing the journeys of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed 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 get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

In London, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a quest to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a reading will be performed to remember that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to fill a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are impactful 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 perhaps it can provoke a feeling of duty from each person. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is intending to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project started after he faced several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to place blooms 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 occurrences and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and