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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final significant endeavors. Famed for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from peace activism to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he made a plea for a international event to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging cultural workers to stand against the steady eradication of species. “Our task 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 Creation of Nature Remembrance

In this way the environmental art day came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who cared for Metzger in his final years, recalls his sense of urgency. “There was a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to approve this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in movements like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their work. For this purpose she is restaging it to celebrate its decade milestone. Among the key participants participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. They have all produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing the artist, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), biology (studying the genetic makeup), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how different apples came to the UK).

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

“Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Each has histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted 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 get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see the variety and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

In London, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants exploring an art institution on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in modern times. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a recitation will be performed to honor that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, a creative will be putting on a open display about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, made using organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, a participant is streaming her environmental performance, in which local singers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that capture their hopes and fears for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” 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. Kids are unbiased. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is planning to represent an iconic figure. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. The project began when he faced three incidents of discrimination on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on 4 November is to place blooms at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and