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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of living beings. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the project hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its 10-year anniversary. Among the key participants participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), genetics (studying the hereditary traits), and geography (mapping the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Each has background narratives. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the control 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 look on the bag and see the variety and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

At the capital, one artist’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring a major gallery on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be performed to remember that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from regional food. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that document their aspirations and concerns for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. The project commenced following he endured three incidents of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and