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During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, inviting cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Nature Remembrance

Thus Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its impact can still be observed in initiatives like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their work. This is the reason she is relaunching it to commemorate its decade milestone. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented 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 spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), biology (studying the genetic makeup), and history (mapping the journeys of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Each has stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the control 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 read the label and see the variety and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s project on disappearance will involve participants exploring an art institution on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been lost in the past decade. Each glacier will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as holding a shared meal, made using sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which local singers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will inspire a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. The project began when he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

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

The intention on 4 November is to place blooms at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and