Cultural Figures Respond In the Face of the Climate Emergency: Sowing the Apple That Fell on Newton's Head

Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Recognized for introducing self-destructive creations, Metzger had spent a lifetime to addressing global challenges from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a international event to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on the fourth of November, 2015,” he announced, urging cultural workers to resist the ongoing loss of flora and fauna. “Our responsibility is to make audiences aware of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so the arts will venture into domains that are inherently creative.”

The Birth of Nature Remembrance

Thus the environmental art day was born, a day when artists across the country created responses to the escalating planetary emergency. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his last days, recalls his drive for action. “There was a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I just said – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for financial support or for anyone to approve this. Let’s just do it.”

A Decade Later

A decade on, the project hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but Joelson believes its legacy can still be observed in initiatives like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their methods. For this purpose she is restaging it to celebrate its decade milestone. Among the featured creators taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, shared messages, and developed pieces set to be presented on 4 November 2025.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with Anya Gallaccio, she is out in a field in a rural area, cultivating apple trees that will develop into a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and somewhat instructive. According to her, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about measurements (calculating the distances between trees), biology (exploring the hereditary traits), and history (tracing the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

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

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ crimson liquid. Each has histories attached. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that dropped off a tree and hit the scientist’s head.”

Gallaccio wanted the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the influence we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you get at a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see the variety and their origin. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Artistic Responses Nationwide

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will engage visitors exploring a major gallery on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in recent years. Every ice sheet will be illustrated on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be held to commemorate that particular glacier.

Meanwhile, up in another location, an artist will be putting on a open display about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a community dinner, made using regional food. Further north, an artist is streaming her environmental performance, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, a featured creator 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 years ahead. “Kids’ art are impactful because they’re not as trammelled as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will stimulate 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 our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Memorials and Memory

Another artist’s work also appeals to children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves drawing birds and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is aiming to address a local symbol. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the past twenty years. This endeavor commenced following he faced several events of discrimination on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents shared by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

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

The plan on the event day is to sow flowers at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the guided walk about the occurrences and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few after my previous work,” he says sadly.

Moving Forward with Hope

The artist wishes his work – and