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During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final significant endeavors. Recognized for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to confronting global challenges from peace activism to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, encouraging cultural workers to oppose the continuing disappearance of species. “Our task is to remind people of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, recalls his drive for action. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the project did not triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its impact can still be seen in campaigns like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. This is the reason she is reviving it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Included in the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. Each has produced imagery, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (tracing the backgrounds of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many 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 scarlet-colored sap. 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 struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see what they’re called and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors exploring an art institution on a mission to find the ice masses that have been vanished in recent years. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a performance will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

Elsewhere, up in another location, an artist will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. This endeavor commenced following he faced several events of discrimination on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since spiralled to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to sow flowers at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the events and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and