Creatives Respond In the Face of the Environmental Crisis: Planting the Fruit That Dropped on Newton's Head

Back in 2015, creative and campaigner Gustav Metzger launched one of his last important works. Recognized for introducing auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to ethical eating. Through a short video message, he requested support for a worldwide initiative to honor the environment.

“I call upon you for your involvement in this global appeal for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, inviting makers and thinkers to stand against the continuing disappearance of living beings. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are fundamentally innovative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

Thus the environmental art day was established, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. Jo Joelson, who worked closely with Metzger in his last days, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “I sensed a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to green light this. Take action immediately.”

A Decade Later

After ten years, the project may not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but organizers feel its legacy can still be seen in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how artists approach the eco-friendliness of their practices. This is the reason she is reviving it to celebrate its decade milestone. Among the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Cornelia Parker and Anya Gallaccio. Each has created visual art, recorded calls to action, and created artworks set to be revealed on the fourth of November next year.

Planting Hope

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and part learning experience. She describes, the preparation and sowing sessions have already involved learning about measurements (spacing the distances between trees), biology (discussing the apple’s DNA), and history (mapping the journeys of how different apples came to the UK).

Several the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases crimson liquid

“Several the apples were picked because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Bloody Butcher,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. Each has histories attached. The ancient variety was imported by the Romans. The Kentish variety is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of nature 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 their names and the source. Perhaps it indicates Kent!”

Cultural Projects Across the Country

Within the city, Youngsook Choi’s work about extinction will involve participants exploring an art institution on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in the past decade. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the museum surfaces using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be performed to commemorate that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, an artist will be putting on a open display about our alienation from the environment, as well as hosting a communal feast, cooked from organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, an artist is sharing her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which community vocalists begin a project to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Similar to other artists, another participant will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is planning to fill an art space in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are compelling because they’re not as inhibited as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and perhaps it can provoke 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 our responsibility that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Paul Harfleet’s work also connects with children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for the event he is planning to address Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also conducting a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he experienced several events of homophobic abuse on a one occasion. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and record it – the project has since spiralled to cover events experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “Reportedly pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – 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 intention on the event day is to plant pansies at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has marked earlier, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his personal experiences. “I’ve recorded quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

Harfleet hopes his work – and