“The art, architecture and design world needs to take a stand against the ongoing erasure of species – even where there is little chance of ultimate success. It is our privilege and our duty to be at the forefront of the struggle. There is no choice but to follow the path of ethics into aesthetics. We live in societies suffocating in waste.”
Gustav Metzger, 2015.
Remember Nature, a project by artist and political activist Gustav Metzger, will take place on 4 November, with arts practitioners around the world encouraged to participate in a Day of Action to highlight the topic of extinction.
Metzger’s call to action urges arts professionals and students from all disciplines to create new work to ‘Remember Nature’, addressing global issues such as extinction, climate change and environmental pollution. A launch event will take place at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design and at art schools nationwide on the day.
Remember Nature from London Fieldworks on Vimeo.
Metzger says:
“This appeal is for the widest possible participation from the world of the arts. It is our privilege and our duty to be at the forefront of this struggle. We have no choice but to follow the path of ethics into aesthetics. We live in societies suffocating in waste.”
French fashion designer Agnes b. is producing a campaign poster designed by Gustav Metzger in collaboration with London Fieldworks. Work by participants will be documented and uploaded to remembernaturegustavmetzger.wordpress.com
Please join artist Gustav Metzger for a Day of Action to Remember Nature 4th November 2015, 10am
Evening drinks reception: 5 – 7pm Central St Martins Granary Building, 1 Granary Square London N1 4AA
About The Artist
Gustav Metzger is a London-based artist who was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1926 to Polish-Jewish parents. From 1945 to 1953, Metzger studied at art schools in Cambridge, London, Antwerp and Oxford. His practice has spanned over 65 years, focusing on opposing yet interdependent forces, such as destruction and creation. In 1959, he developed the concept of ‘auto-destructive art’ and ‘auto-creative art’, proposing works that reflect the destructive nature of political and economic systems.
In 2015, Gustav Metzger created his first digital work Mass Media: todayandyesterday.co.uk, co-commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries in partnership with The Space. It coincided with Extinction Marathon: Visions of the Future, which Metzger both inspired and co-curated.
Metzger’s work, including his involvement in the Serpentine’s Extinction Marathon in 2014 and his acclaimed exhibition, Decades 1959 – 2009 at the Serpentine Gallery in 2009, addresses climate change and its catastrophic effects.
The commission built on the long-standing and ongoing work, Mass Media: Today and Yesterday, a participatory installation involving the collection of thousands of newspapers that was installed as Facing Extinction, an exhibition at Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury. Over the course of the two-days Extinction Marathon, a special live transmission from Facing Extinction on www.todayandyesterday.co.uk formed a connection between the two physical sites of the Serpentine Galleries in London and Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury.
