Cultural Figures Take a Stand In the Face of the Planetary Crisis: Sowing the Fruit That Dropped on Newton's Head

During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his last significant endeavors. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a international event to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to oppose the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “The mission is to help the public recall of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

In this way Remember Nature came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his final years, notes his drive for action. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, the initiative may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in campaigns like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the key participants taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to one participant, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will create a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already incorporated learning about mathematics (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the genetic makeup), and origins (tracing the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and hit the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, on their next shopping trip, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

Within the city, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring Tate Modern on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been vanished in modern times. All formations will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a reading will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, an artist will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as organizing a community dinner, made using sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists undertake a task to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that capture their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from everyone. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is planning to tackle an iconic figure. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. This endeavor started after he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” 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 derogatory label – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on the event day is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and