Younger members of the Institute often confuse juvenilia with juvenalia, but research into seasonal forms of transport goes ahead regardless. With the count down in full swing, the relation between the advent calendar and the number of shopping days till Xmas is one among a number of critical debates. Other pressing questions include:
a) how to tell the difference between the real Father Xmas and men wearing polyester and cotton wool;
b) whether Father Xmas works for Amazon and / or John Lewis, or whether he is truly freelance;
c) whether the elves have outsourced their operations to China;
d) whether donkeys and reindeer are, in effect, members of the same union of seasonal workers;
e) whether myrrh is a utopian symbol, or a metonymic representation of the proto-capitalist perfume industry;
f) what it feels like to be a turkey voting for Xmas to be called off;
g) whether Father Xmas, having resisted previous challenges, will ever take an interest in fourth wave feminism.

Meanwhile, younger members have been writing letters to Lapland and making seasonal artworks. Rather than attempting a scholarly overview, here’s a snapshot of some of today’s work by those of the youth section who did not go to the ballet workshop:

Inspired by a recent art club meeting on the theory and practice of Kurt Schwitters, the question of Xmas has also been sublated by this same young artist, all too briefly, through the medium of magazines:

Amid the pressure of the problems faced by secret agents, space travellers and solidarity movements affiliating with our smaller furry friends, there is also the not insignificant question of air transport, as is clarified in a detail from this collage:

The reality of more seasonal forms of transport nevertheless proves more pressing, and it may be that the reindeer will need to consider updating their vehicles in the light of as yet sketchily conceived forms of rocket technology:

The heavy burden of such impressions is even felt by the tablecloth, and has thus far proved to be indelible, a sense of permanence the Institute is still coming to terms with:

And yet, despite both the bleak midwinter, the many ways in which the dialectic of technology cuts into the enlightenments of Xmas, the making of cards can also revisit the thorny question of nature’s promises and hopes for budding will and good health: