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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, inviting makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our task is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its impact can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is restaging it to mark its ten-year mark. Among the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, shared messages, and produced installations set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the planting intervals), biology (discussing the hereditary traits), and geography (mapping the stories of how different apples were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names 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 funny names such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to check the packaging and see the variety and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring an art institution on a quest to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. Each glacier will be depicted on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a reading will be performed to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, prepared with organic, local produce. In another city, an artist is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which regional performers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to fill a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can provoke a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. The project began when he experienced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower 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 are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the events and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and