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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final major projects. Known for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, inviting artists and creatives to oppose the steady eradication of species. “The mission is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Part of the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), biology (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (researching the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Each has histories attached. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, next time they were out, to read the label and see the variety and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching a major gallery on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a performance will be held to remember that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill an art space in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may provoke a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. This endeavor commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of discrimination on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since grown to cover events reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Apparently birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and