Artists Take a Stand In the Face of the Planetary Crisis: Planting the Apple That Dropped on Newton's Head

During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger initiated one of his ultimate important works. Famed for pioneering self-destructive creations, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on November 4th, 2015,” he declared, encouraging makers and thinkers to stand against the steady eradication of species. “Our responsibility is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

Thus Remember Nature was born, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his final years, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in initiatives like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their practices. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Included in the featured creators taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. Each has produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

In conversation with the artist, she is on site in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a coiled garden. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about mathematics (spacing the distances between trees), science (studying the hereditary traits), and history (researching the journeys of how distinct varieties came to the UK).

Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of nature and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. All formations will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a recitation will be performed to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, a participant is sharing her musical project, in which regional performers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is planning to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as inhibited 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 provoke a awareness of obligation from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about worry – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he experienced several events of discrimination on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to sow flowers at fresh spots and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and