Artists Fight Back In the Face of the Environmental Crisis: Cultivating the Apple That Fell on Newton's Head

During 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his last significant endeavors. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a global day of action to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, urging makers and thinkers to oppose the steady eradication of living beings. “The mission is to help the public recall of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus Remember Nature was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

After Ten Years

A decade on, Remember Nature may not have sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be seen in movements like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. That’s why she is relaunching it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the key participants participating now are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on 4 November 2025.

Sowing Change

Interviewing 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 half artwork and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (measuring out the gaps in the orchard), biology (discussing the hereditary traits), and origins (researching the backgrounds of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Many of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Each has stories behind them. The historical cultivar was imported by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was urging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see their names and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Throughout Britain

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as holding a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, an artist is streaming her musical project, in which local singers begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Children’s Voices

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is hoping to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something distinctive and hopefully it will stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about worry – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. That ongoing series commenced following he endured three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and document it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower 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 was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The plan on the event day is to plant pansies at fresh spots and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and