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

During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final important works. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. In a brief video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of living beings. “Our task is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

In this way the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his final years, notes his sense of urgency. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, the project hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its impact can still be observed in initiatives like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Part of the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

Interviewing one participant, she is out in a field in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and part learning experience. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already incorporated learning about measurements (measuring out the planting intervals), biology (discussing the apple’s DNA), and origins (tracing the backgrounds of how different apples were introduced to England).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Every one carries background narratives. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the power we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will include attendees looking through Tate Modern on a journey to find the frozen formations that have been lost in the past decade. Each glacier will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be performed to remember that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be presenting a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a community dinner, cooked from regional food. In another city, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her musical project, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in children’s artwork that document their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can inspire a feeling of duty from us all. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is intending to tackle 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 recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since grown to cover events 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 ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the bloom not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day 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 events and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and