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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to global challenges from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, encouraging artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of species. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

Thus Remember Nature came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, the project did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its influence can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Among the featured creators taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (calculating the distances between trees), biology (discussing the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in modern times. Each glacier will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be performed to commemorate that individual formation.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. In another city, an artist is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that document their dreams and worries for the future. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and it may provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. That ongoing series started after he endured several events of prejudice on a one occasion. 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 experienced 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.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the events and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and