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

Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate major projects. Famed for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to human struggles from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he stated, urging makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “The mission is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

And so the environmental art day came into being, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be seen in movements like artist-led declarations and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the eco-friendliness of their practices. For this purpose she is relaunching it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

Interviewing one participant, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about measurements (spacing the gaps in the orchard), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and history (tracing the backgrounds of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

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

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the influence we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see the variety and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will include attendees searching Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in the past decade. Each glacier will be drawn on the museum surfaces using special pens. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a reading will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

At the same time, up in a northern town, a creative will be hosting a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to cover an art space in youth creations that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and it may inspire a sense of responsibility from everyone. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about fear – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is aiming to represent a local symbol. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he faced several events of prejudice on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since grown to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and