Abaabil

Abaabil is one of five sculptural interventions by Oxford-based artist Saad Qureshi, and you'll find it at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on Parks Road. It's running from 2 October to 6 December 2026, so it's there for a good while if you're planning your autumn around it.

To get why it's here, you have to look at the bigger picture. Abaabil is part of a wider project called On Paradise, which is an exhibition of Qureshi's work at the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. These five sculptures are spread across the University's museums, effectively extending that main show out of the gallery and into the University's own collections. They're described as sculptural responses to the main exhibition, taking the work out of the white box and placing it alongside the collections themselves.

That's the bit that makes it worth seeing in person: the work isn't just sitting in a neutral space; it's in conversation with the museum's existing displays. If you've seen the main show at the Schwarzman Centre, this is the extension of it. If you haven't, Abaabil still stands on its own as one of the five pieces. The whole thing runs until 6 December, so there's plenty of time to catch it at the Museum of Natural History on Parks Road, OX1 3PW.