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In 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last significant endeavors. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from peace activism to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting artists and creatives to oppose the continuing disappearance 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 territories that are inherently creative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his last days, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound 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 green light this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the project may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be seen in initiatives like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is relaunching it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all designed posters, shared messages, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

When speaking to one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the gaps in the orchard), biology (studying the genetic makeup), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that produces red juice

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. They all have histories attached. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring Tate Modern on a quest to find the ice masses that have been lost in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be conducted to honor that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, made using organic, local produce. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are compelling 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 truly special and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to tackle a local symbol. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. That ongoing series began when he faced several events of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents experienced 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 very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan 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 guided walk about the events and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and