Artists Take a Stand Against the Planetary Crisis: Cultivating the Apple That Fell on Isaac Newton's Head

Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger initiated one of his final significant endeavors. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he requested support for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, inviting artists and creatives to stand against the continuing disappearance 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 inherently creative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

And so Remember Nature was established, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his later life, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – we must act now. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

A Decade Later

Ten years later, Remember Nature hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its influence can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their practices. For this purpose she is reviving it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Among the 18 lead artists involved this time are A Man Called Adam and prominent artists. Each has designed posters, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and half educational workshop. As she explains, the preparation and sowing sessions have already included learning about mathematics (calculating the planting intervals), science (studying the genetic makeup), and geography (mapping the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher. We have one apple that releases red juice

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Duck’s Bill,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have histories attached. The ancient variety was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that descended from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment 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 read the label and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Across the Country

In London, a participant’s Book of Loss will include attendees exploring a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a alert will occur and a reading will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in another location, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as hosting a community dinner, cooked from regional food. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Young Insights

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the future. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for Remember Nature day he is intending to tackle an iconic figure. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. That ongoing series commenced following he experienced several events of discrimination on a one occasion. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to cover events shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they don’t often last,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.”

Harfleet chose the bloom not just for the direct association – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his memories of them. “I’ve recorded quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and