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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last important works. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a international event to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to stand against the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

And so Remember Nature came into being, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his final years, notes his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in campaigns like Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and produced installations set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Sowing Change

Interviewing one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and geography (mapping the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases red juice. They all have histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring an art institution on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to honor that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, made using sustainable ingredients. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists begin a project to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and it may stimulate a awareness of obligation from each person. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to tackle a local symbol. He is also organizing 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 faced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and