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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last major projects. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting human struggles from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging artists and creatives to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his last days, notes his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, Remember Nature did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is restaging it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the featured creators participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (tracing the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a communal feast, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can provoke a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he endured several events of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom 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. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and