Artists Fight Back In the Face of the Planetary Crisis: Planting the Apple That Fell on Isaac Newton's Head

Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for introducing art that erases itself, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to human struggles from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this global appeal for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he stated, encouraging makers and thinkers to resist the steady eradication of living beings. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into territories that are naturally imaginative.”

The Birth of Remember Nature

And so the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country developed works to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his drive for action. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “My advice was – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, Remember Nature did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had envisioned, but supporters think its legacy can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the environmental impact of their practices. This is the reason she is relaunching it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the featured creators participating now are Cornelia Parker and prominent artists. They have all created visual art, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a circular grove. Engaging schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), science (exploring the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Each has background narratives. The ancient variety was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of the natural world and the power we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, on their next shopping trip, to read the label and see what they’re called and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

In London, one artist’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Each glacier will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using ultraviolet markers. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a performance will be conducted to commemorate that individual formation.

Meanwhile, up in a northern town, an artist will be hosting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a community dinner, prepared with organic, local produce. In another city, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers embark on a mission to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to cover a cultural venue in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from us all. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about positivity and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. With a background in performance, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is aiming to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the recent decades. This endeavor began when he experienced three incidents of discrimination on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the site of each occurrence and record it – the project has since grown to include incidents reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a slur – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and