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During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Famed for pioneering art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing human struggles from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, encouraging artists and creatives to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his final years, notes his sense of urgency. “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in initiatives like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their methods. For this purpose she is relaunching it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. Each has created visual art, shared messages, and created artworks set to be presented on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

Interviewing one participant, she is working outdoors in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and geography (tracing the backgrounds of how different apples came to the UK).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Each has background narratives. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, 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 their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a mission to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. Each glacier will be drawn on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be performed to honor that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, an artist will be hosting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her environmental performance, in which community vocalists undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover an art space in youth creations that capture their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as inhibited as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the event he is intending to address an iconic figure. He is also staging 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 faced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the pansy not just for the obvious reason – 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 contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to place blooms at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while talking to those on the guided walk about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and