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

During 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final major projects. Known for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting global challenges from anti-nuclear advocacy to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he requested support for a global day of action to remember nature.

“I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he declared, inviting makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of species. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Creation of Remember Nature

In this way Remember Nature was established, a day when artists across the country created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, recalls his sense of urgency. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

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 influence can still be observed in movements like cultural advocacy groups and environmental protests, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their work. For this purpose she is relaunching it to commemorate its ten-year mark. Part of the key participants involved this time are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in the countryside, helping plant apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. As she explains, the design and cultivation sessions have already included learning about maths (measuring out the distances between trees), biology (studying the hereditary traits), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how various cultivars 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 scarcolored sap

“Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that produces red juice. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the natural world and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to read the label and see the variety and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

Within the city, one artist’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through Tate Modern on a quest to find the ice masses that have been disappeared in modern times. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a shared meal, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Further north, Uta Kögelsberger is sharing her musical project, in which community vocalists undertake a task to sing plants back to health in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, a featured creator will be working with schoolchildren – on the scheduled date she is hoping to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that express their hopes and fears for the tomorrow. “Youthful expressions are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can stimulate a feeling of duty from each person. Youth is pure. They have anxieties about what’s next. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Memorials and Memory

A participant’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his avian project involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the event he is intending to represent an iconic figure. He is also staging a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. This endeavor started after he endured several events of homophobic abuse on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the spot where it happened and photograph it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences shared by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

The artist selected 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 negative trait,” he says.

The intention on 4 November is to sow flowers at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the events and his personal experiences. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

He desires his work – and