Cultural Figures Take a Stand Against the Planetary Crisis: Planting the Fruit That Fell on Newton's Head

During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he requested support for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to resist the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

And so the environmental art day came into being, a day when artists across the country created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, remembers his drive for action. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

Ten years later, Remember Nature 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 artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is reviving it to celebrate its decade milestone. Part of the key participants involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. Each has produced imagery, made video appeals, and produced installations set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with the artist, she is working outdoors in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about maths (spacing the planting intervals), science (studying the genetic makeup), and origins (mapping the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. 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 ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the influence we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see their names and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the ice masses that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to commemorate that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in Barrow-in-Furness, an artist will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from regional food. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her musical project, in which local singers undertake a task to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in children’s artwork that express their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will inspire a feeling of duty from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his long-term work over the past twenty years. This endeavor commenced following he endured multiple occurrences of homophobic abuse on a particular day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since grown to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

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

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his recollections. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

The artist wishes his work – and