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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, inviting cultural workers to resist the continuing disappearance of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, notes his drive for action. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in campaigns like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the key participants involved this time are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (spacing the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the apple’s DNA), and geography (tracing the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces red juice. They all have stories behind them. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been lost in modern times. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be conducted to honor that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as holding a communal feast, prepared with organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their dreams and worries for the future. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and it may inspire a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. This endeavor started after he experienced several events of discrimination on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and