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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a international event to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, encouraging makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are inherently creative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, notes his feeling of immediacy. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to approve 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 seen in campaigns like artist-led declarations and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their methods. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about measurements (spacing the gaps in the orchard), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and origins (researching the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the control we have over it. “For a lot 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 what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through an art institution on a journey to find the ice masses that have been lost in modern times. Every ice sheet will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “Young people’s input to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can stimulate a awareness of obligation from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. This endeavor began when he faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since grown to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from 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 intention on 4 November is to place blooms at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and