Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last important works. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to honor the environment.
“This is my appeal for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, encouraging makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are fundamentally innovative.”
And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, recalls his drive for action. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”
Ten years later, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the featured creators participating now are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.
When speaking to one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the backgrounds of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).
A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap
“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent 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 environment and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”
In London, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will include attendees looking through an art institution on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to commemorate that individual formation.
Meanwhile, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a shared meal, made using regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.
Like Gallaccio, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to fill an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and it may inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they see a better world.”
Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to represent a local symbol. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. The project commenced following he endured three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since expanded to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”
He picked 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 became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.
The intention on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.
The artist wishes his work – and
