The Christmas countdown has begun at Tate Britain in London, which returned to its tradition of festive artists’ commissions on 1 December. Iranian-born sculptor Shirazeh Houshiary has suspended a Christmas tree over the sweeping spiral staircase in the rotunda—the gallery’s first since 2011, when work began on its £45m makeover by architects Caruso St John. Forgoing the usual baubles and tinsel, Houshiary has turned her tree upside down and covered its roots in gold leaf to take “earth back to heaven”. More than the risk of falling pine needles, the installation invites visitors to contemplate the spiritual side of contemporary art, Tate says. A new collection display in the nearby Duveen galleries, Sculpture as Object, spotlights symbolically charged works by Houshiary’s 1980s contemporaries, including Anish Kapoor’s pure pigment pieces and Antony Gormley’s trinity of human figures. Visitors this weekend (2-3 December) can also look forward to a programme of torchlight viewings of Tate’s collection of Turners and pop-up performances of Christmas music from the English National Opera chorus.