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

In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate important works. Recognized for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting societal issues from peace activism to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, encouraging cultural workers to resist the steady eradication of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative came into being, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, Remember Nature did not incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be seen in campaigns like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. This is the reason she is restaging it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. Each has created visual art, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about mathematics (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (exploring the apple’s DNA), and geography (researching the journeys of how various cultivars came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces red juice. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was brought over 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 consciously engaged of nature and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see the variety and the source. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

In London, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will involve participants searching an art institution on a mission to find the frozen formations that have been disappeared in recent years. All formations will be drawn on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be conducted to honor that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, a creative will be putting on a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Over in Newcastle, an artist is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to decorate an art space in youth creations that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her public appeal. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about optimism and making sure that they get a future.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to tackle a local symbol. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. This endeavor began when he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to plant pansies at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and