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Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues from peace activism to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a international event to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, urging cultural workers to resist the continuing disappearance of living beings. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are inherently creative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his last days, remembers his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its influence can still be observed in campaigns like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their methods. For this purpose she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing the artist, she is out in a field in Kent, cultivating apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the gaps in the orchard), biology (discussing the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases crimson liquid. Every one carries background narratives. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in 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. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

In London, a participant’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring an art institution on a quest 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 invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the future. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may provoke a feeling of duty from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and making sure that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he experienced several events of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral 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. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and