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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his last major projects. Famed for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, urging cultural workers to oppose the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are inherently creative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, notes his drive for action. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its influence can still be observed in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is reviving it to mark its ten-year mark. Part of the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and geography (researching the backgrounds 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 produces scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see their names and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, one artist’s project on disappearance will involve participants exploring a major gallery on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. When located, a chime will sound and a performance will be performed to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, prepared with sustainable ingredients. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover an art space in children’s artwork that express their aspirations and concerns for the future. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility 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 making sure that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. The project started after he endured multiple occurrences of prejudice 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 grown to incorporate experiences 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 ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and