Creatives Take a Stand In the Face of the Environmental Crisis: Planting the Fruit That Fell on Isaac Newton's Head

During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate major projects. Known for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had devoted his career to confronting global challenges from nuclear disarmament to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your involvement in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the steady eradication of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who cared for Metzger in his final years, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a great sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – we must act now. No need to pause for sponsorship or for anyone to approve this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, Remember Nature hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in movements like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. For this purpose she is reviving it to celebrate its decade milestone. Part of the featured creators involved this time are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in the countryside, cultivating apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. She describes, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), biology (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (researching the stories of how various cultivars came to the UK).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that releases red juice. Each has histories attached. The decio apple was brought over by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that descended from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see what they’re called and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, one artist’s project on disappearance will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in the past decade. Each glacier will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. When located, a alert will occur and a recitation will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in another location, Maddi Nicholson will be hosting a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a community dinner, cooked from sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that express their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something distinctive and perhaps it can inspire a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is intending to represent an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. This endeavor started after he experienced multiple occurrences of prejudice on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since spiralled to cover events reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

The artist selected the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the incidents and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and