Creatives Respond In the Face of the Environmental Crisis: Cultivating the Apple That Fell on Isaac Newton's Head

Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his last major projects. Known for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to confronting societal issues from nuclear disarmament to ethical eating. Via a concise video message, he made a plea for a global day of action to remember nature.

“This is my appeal for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to commemorate our planet on the fourth of November, 2015,” he declared, inviting artists and creatives to resist the continuing disappearance of flora and fauna. “The mission is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore domains that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Environmental Reflection

In this way Remember Nature was born, a day when creatives nationwide produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, remembers his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a profound sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. We shouldn’t hold back for sponsorship or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the project may not have triggered the broad uprising across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its legacy can still be felt in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how makers handle the eco-friendliness of their work. This is the reason she is relaunching it to mark its ten-year mark. Included in the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have designed posters, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

When speaking to the artist, she is on site in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is somewhat artistic and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (spacing the gaps in the orchard), genetics (discussing the apple’s DNA), and geography (researching the backgrounds of how various cultivars came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarcolored sap

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Each has background narratives. The historical cultivar was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and struck the scientist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the environment and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was prompting them, when they go shopping, to look on the bag and see the variety and where they were grown. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Nationwide

At the capital, a participant’s project on disappearance will involve participants looking through a major gallery on a journey to find the ice masses that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the museum surfaces using invisible ink. When located, a alert will occur and a reading will be performed to remember that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, an artist will be hosting a open display about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a communal feast, cooked from regional food. In another city, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which regional performers undertake a task to perform for vegetation in a green space.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, Cornelia Parker will be engaging schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate a cultural venue in youth creations that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something truly special and it may provoke a awareness of obligation from each person. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and making sure that they see a better world.”

Remembrance and Reflection

A participant’s work also appeals to children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves drawing birds and then embodying them – and for the event he is aiming to represent a local symbol. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. This endeavor began when he endured multiple occurrences of discrimination on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since grown to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently 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 derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It was linked to a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a negative trait,” he says.

The project on the event day is to plant pansies at new locations and also renew the tributes in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the events and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly.

Progressing Optimistically

Harfleet hopes his work – and