Art and Exhibits in Oxford This Month

Oxford does not hibernate. Even when the light is still a bit grey and the coffee queues are long, the city is quietly packed with exhibitions, tours and one off events that are genuinely worth your time. Here is our edit of what to see and book this month. Art and culture aren't extras here. They're part of what keeps Oxford interesting, questioning and alive. These spaces create room for conversation, experimentation and new perspectives. Showing up matters. Buying a ticket, bringing a friend, talking about what you have seen afterwards all help sustain the people and organisations shaping the city’s creative life.

The Drawing Project

Location: North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford

Dates: 1 – 7 March, 10:00 – 16:00

Website: https://www.thenorthwall.com

Sixteen artists. Two Old Master paintings. One ambitious idea.

The Drawing Project takes The Forest Fire by Piero di Cosimo and The Exposition of Moses by Nicolas Poussin from the Ashmolean Museum and reimagines them through large scale collaborative drawing. Each artist created sections to scale, which were then assembled into full 1:1 recreations of the originals, some in colour, some in black and white. It is detailed, clever and surprisingly moving. You see the joins, the individual hands, the decisions. It is a reminder that art history is not fixed in time, it is something we keep returning to and reworking.

Suzanne Treister: Prophetic Dreaming

Location: Modern Art Oxford

Tickets: £9.50 full price, £7 concessions Website: https://www.modernartoxford.org.uk

This is the first major institutional retrospective of Suzanne Treister, and it feels timely.

Prophetic Dreaming spans more than forty years of work from early paintings in the 1980s to pioneering digital projects of the 1990s and beyond. If you have ever been curious about the strange overlap between technology, power, mysticism and the internet, this is your exhibition.

Treister’s alter ego Rosalind Brodsky appears alongside the influential HEXEN 2.0 series, which connects cybernetics, surveillance, counterculture and tarot. Her latest work, HEXEN 5.0, turns its attention to AI, climate crisis and quantum science. It's smart, slightly unsettling and occasionally funny. You will probably leave with more questions than answers, which is the point.

In Bloom

Location: Ashmolean Museum Website: https://www.ashmolean.org

What do we actually know about the flowers in our gardens?

In Bloom digs beneath the surface of roses, tulips, camellias and peonies to reveal stories of exploration, trade and obsession. With more than 100 artworks and objects on display, it traces how plant hunters and global networks reshaped landscapes and economies.

It is visually beautiful, yes, but also quietly political. The exhibition connects Oxford to the wider world and shows how something as simple as a window box can carry centuries of history.

Wild Colour

Location: The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock Website: https://www.oxfordshiremuseum.org.uk

If February has felt monochrome, this will fix it. Wild Colour explores the science and spectacle of colour in the animal kingdom. Expect jewel beetles, scarlet ibis, mandrills and chameleons, all captured in striking photography. The exhibition looks at camouflage, communication, albinism and melanism, unpacking how colour shapes survival. It is accessible enough for families but detailed enough to hold your attention. Worth the short trip to Woodstock (S7 bus), especially if you are building a weekend around it.

Stories of Oxford Tour

Location: Museum of Oxford, Oxford Town Hall Date: 10 March, 13:00 – 13:45 Tickets: £4 Website: https://www.museumofoxford.org

Short on time but want something different?

These small group highlights tours focus on Oxford’s creative heritage. From unexpected design stories to niche bits of architecture and fashion history, the guides pull together objects you might otherwise walk past. Tours last around 30 to 45 minutes and include gallery access. Capacity is limited, so booking ahead is sensible.

Through the Blue

Location: Old Fire Station

Dates: Until 14 March, Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 – 16:00 Website: https://www.oldfirestation.org.uk

Through the Blue is presented by Koestler Arts and showcases work made in prisons, secure hospitals and probation settings across the region. Co-curated by people on probation in Oxford and Reading, the exhibition brings together 70 pieces selected from more than 600 entries to the Koestler Awards. Themes of walls, thresholds and movement run throughout. It's thoughtful, human and quietly powerful. A reminder of what creativity can do in the most constrained environments.

Our Oxford: 50 Years, 50 Stories

Location: Museum of Oxford Dates: Until 28 March 2026 Website: https://www.museumofoxford.org

This evolving exhibition celebrates fifty new stories from across the city, gathered with Oxford’s communities. Through collaborative artworks, oral histories and community collected objects, it builds a portrait of Oxford in 2025 that feels layered and honest. Not just dreaming spires, but volunteers, change makers, artists and everyday residents. It's one to take visiting friends to if you want them to understand the city beyond the postcard version.

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Why It Matters

Oxford’s cultural calendar works because people use it. Independent arts centres, touring exhibitions, community museums and contemporary galleries rely on footfall, conversation and support. These events are where new ideas are tested, difficult subjects are explored and overlooked stories are told.

Whether you live here or you are visiting for the weekend, carving out time for an exhibition or a guided tour is one of the best ways to understand the city properly. Not just its history, but its present.

Book something. Turn up. Stay curious.