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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate major projects. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the project may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Among the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (spacing the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and geography (mapping the stories of how distinct varieties were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. They all have background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees exploring Tate Modern on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a reading will be conducted to honor that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in another location, a creative will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, cooked from regional food. Further north, an artist is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the initiative he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. This endeavor started after he experienced several events of discrimination on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since expanded to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at additional sites 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 recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and