Creatives Take a Stand In the Face of the Planetary Crisis: Sowing the Fruit That Fell on Newton's Head

Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last significant endeavors. Known for creating art that erases itself, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to societal issues from peace activism to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for funding or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the project may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but organizers feel its legacy can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Among the key participants participating now are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, made video appeals, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is on site in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (spacing the distances between trees), biology (discussing the apple’s DNA), and origins (tracing the stories of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Every one carries stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and hit Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a quest to find the ice masses that have been vanished in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a chime will sound and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a public show about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a community dinner, made using regional food. In another city, a participant is sharing her environmental performance, in which local singers begin a project to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as restricted as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a feeling of duty from everyone. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. The project began when he experienced multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences 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 very temporary memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the direct association – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while conversing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and