🔗 Share this article

In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his last major projects. Recognized for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing human struggles from peace activism to vegetarianism. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal 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 makers and thinkers to stand against the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

In this way the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide developed works to the ongoing environmental crisis. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

After Ten Years

Ten years later, the project did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its influence can still be felt in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. This is the reason she is relaunching it to commemorate its decade milestone. Part of the key participants taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and other notable figures. All participants have created visual art, recorded calls to action, and produced installations set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and half educational workshop. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about measurements (calculating the planting intervals), genetics (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (tracing the journeys of how various cultivars arrived in Britain).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries background narratives. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more thoughtfully connected of nature and the influence 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 read the label and see the variety and their origin. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

In London, a participant’s work about extinction will include attendees exploring a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a community dinner, made using organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to perform for vegetation in a local park.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and it may stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about fear – it should be about positivity and making sure that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also resonates for children. As a former drag queen, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is intending to tackle a local symbol. He is also conducting a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the recent decades. The project began when he faced several events of homophobic abuse on a particular day. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the clear connection – it has long been a slur – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The plan on 4 November is to place blooms 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 incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and