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In 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Famed for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting human struggles from peace activism to ethical eating. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging makers and thinkers to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

And so the environmental art day was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, notes his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the initiative hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but organizers feel its influence can still be observed in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Included in the 18 lead artists involved this time are A Man Called Adam and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and history (mapping the journeys of how different apples arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted 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 prompting them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see their names and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

At the capital, one artist’s project on disappearance will engage visitors looking through Tate Modern on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in modern times. All formations will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a shared meal, prepared with regional food. In another city, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that document their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can inspire a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. This endeavor started after he experienced three incidents of prejudice 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 expanded to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and