Cultural Figures Respond In the Face of the Environmental Crisis: Planting the Apple That Dropped on Isaac Newton's Head

During 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Known for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing societal issues from peace activism to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he issued a call for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your engagement in this international summons for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, inviting makers and thinkers to oppose the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “The mission is to make audiences aware of the abundance and sophistication in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Creation of Environmental Reflection

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his drive for action. “He had a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. No need to pause for funding or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and climate activism networks, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she is reviving it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Part of the 18 lead artists involved this time are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have produced imagery, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be revealed on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to one participant, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will create a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and half educational workshop. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (measuring out the distances between trees), biology (studying the apple’s DNA), and origins (mapping the stories of how different apples were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Several the apples were selected because they’ve got amusing labels such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. Every one carries background narratives. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more actively aware 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 prompting them, next time they were out, to read the label and see what they’re called and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

In London, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in the past decade. Each glacier will be illustrated on the exhibition spaces using special pens. Each discovery, a bell will ring and a performance will be conducted to remember that specific ice mass.

Elsewhere, up in a northern town, a creative will be hosting a free exhibition about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a community dinner, cooked from regional food. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her environmental performance, in which regional performers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Similar to other artists, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to cover an art space in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the tomorrow. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a sense of responsibility from each person. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and us ensuring that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also organizing a itinerant journey of the city, exploring locations that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. This endeavor started after he experienced three incidents of prejudice on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and document it – the project has since grown to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected the bloom not just for the clear connection – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its origin is 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 sow flowers at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

He desires his work – and