Artists Respond Against the Planetary Crisis: Sowing the Fruit That Fell on Isaac Newton's Head

Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Famed for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had devoted his career to responding to societal issues from peace activism to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a international event to celebrate the natural world.

“I call upon you for your participation in this international summons for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging artists and creatives to oppose the continuing disappearance of species. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

And so Remember Nature was established, a day when cultural practitioners throughout Britain produced pieces to the unfolding climate catastrophe. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his final years, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the final chapter,” she says. “I just said – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. Take action immediately.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its influence can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the sustainability of their methods. This is the reason she is restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Included in the 18 lead artists participating now are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. They have all produced imagery, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, assisting with planting apple trees that will develop into a circular grove. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. She describes, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (calculating the distances between trees), genetics (exploring the genetic makeup), and history (tracing the stories of how distinct varieties arrived in Britain).

A lot of the apples were selected 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 humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces red juice. Every one carries histories attached. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of the environment and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to check the packaging and see the variety and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Artistic Responses Throughout Britain

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants looking through Tate Modern on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the exhibition spaces using special pens. When located, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to commemorate that individual formation.

Elsewhere, up in another location, an artist will be putting on a public show about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a shared meal, prepared with organic, local produce. Further north, a participant is broadcasting her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be engaging schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in children’s artwork that express their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something truly special and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from everyone. Kids are unbiased. They have fears about the future. But let’s not make it about worry – it should be about positivity and our responsibility that they get a future.”

Tributes and Thoughts

A participant’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then performing as birds – and for the event he is intending to address a local symbol. He is also staging a itinerant journey of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he experienced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. In response, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared 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 pansy not just for the clear connection – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The intention on the event day is to place blooms at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says with regret.

Moving Forward with Hope

Harfleet hopes his work – and