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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Known for pioneering self-destructive creations, 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 worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our task is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, notes his drive for action. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be observed in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is reviving it to celebrate its decade milestone. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, 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 the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Each has background narratives. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a journey to find the ice masses that have been vanished in the past decade. Each glacier will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from sustainable ingredients. In another city, a participant is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that document their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the event he is intending to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he experienced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to sow flowers at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and