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Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities

What's On

1 Sep 2026 09:00

Open Daily

Marco Brambilla: After Utopia

Digital

No booking needed

2 Oct 2026 09:00

Open daily 11:00 to 17:00

On Paradise

Between Hope and Memory

Exhibitions

No booking needed

6 Nov 2026 09:00

Open daily

A New Dawn

An exhibition by Mary McCartney

Exhibitions

No booking needed

Tomorrow 11:00

Faculty of English

Utopia Now! Conference

part of the Utopia Now! Conference

Talks

16:00

Faculty of English

Homi Bhabha, 'On Processional Ethics: William Kentridge's More Sweetly Play the Dance'

part of the Utopia Now! Conference

Talks

18:30

Faculty of English

Kiran Desai in Conversation with Homi Bhabha

part of the Utopia Now! Conference

Talks

16 Nov 2026 17:00

SOLD OUT

Inaugural lecture: The Revd Canon Professor Luke Bretherton

The Struggle to be Human: Christian Humanism and the Future of Our Common Life

Talks

17 Nov 2026 19:00

Schwarzman Centre, UPP & TORCH Humour Network

Kynodontas (Dogtooth)

Film

View all shows

The news

A Space for Humanity, A Place for Everyone

3 November 2026 - A year after opening, we reflect on how the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities is becoming more than “just” a building.

Schwarzman Centre announces new 2027 season

9 October 2026 - Yo-Yo Ma, De La Soul, Lia Kim, Anoushka Shankar, Wayne McGregor, Marshmallow Laser Feast and more feature in an extraordinary new season of music, dance, theatre, exhibitions, film and immersive experiences.

Welcome to Untitled Issue 02

The second issue of Untitled: the magazine for the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. A place to pause, to question and, we hope, to see the world a little differently.

For the record

Places don’t just hold our memories; they become part of them. Landscapes and cityscapes are vessels for collective memory, akin to a living archive that evolves while telling the stories of the past.

What we inherit, what we renew

Day of Psalms is a day-long immersion in the Psalms as texts of exile, faith and shared human experience, spanning music, poetry, spoken word, visual art and craft.

Destination unknown

If we disagree about the future, what can we still imagine together? Paul Basu and Peter Boxall explore utopia, imagination and the possibility of thinking otherwise.

Ways of Seeing

Nitin Sawhney and Samantha Harvey discuss how seeing the world from afar changes our perspective on life, inspired by their new commission, Orbiting Orbital.

Membership

The Schwarzman Centre invites you to not only encounter new ideas but to challenge, question and connect with them. What is it like to be part of that conversation?

The Human Factor

The future belongs not only to those building new technologies, but also to those who understand the people, cultures, and stories that give them meaning…

Throwing open the doors: how the Schwarzman Centre is creating possibility

A partnership between St Barnabas Primary School and the Schwarzman Centre is creating a sense of belonging and opening up new possibilities for young people.

‘I am not Nora’ – Who owns a life?

From a family story, retold and misremembered, to a photo shared online without context, which is the definitive version of a story?

The spaces in between

Has technology changed our ability to pay attention or simply shifted what we pay attention to?

In concert: how shared wonder opens our minds

How can a collective moment of attention expand our imagination and help us to better understand each other? Professor Naomi Waltham-Smith explains…

Reflections

How has the Schwarzman Centre changed your sense of what is possible?

One Year On: Celebrating 12 months since our academic community moved in

1 October 2026 - This month marks one year since the academic community moved into the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, turning a newly completed building into a place of learning, creativity and collaboration.

What lies beneath: Professor Jon Blundy on mining, materials and Megalith

1 October 2026 - Bringing together Earth Science and performance, Megalith explores our complex relationship with mining and the materials that shape modern life.

Unfinished Revolutions: Reflections on our inaugural cultural season

28 Jul 2026 - Unfinished Revolutions was the Schwarzman Centre’s first themed season, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

His Majesty The King officially opens the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities at the University of Oxford

10 Jul 2026 - The Centre opened in October 2025 as a world-class hub for the Humanities in Oxford, bringing academic excellence and cultural activity together under one roof.

The building

Plan your visit

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities Radcliffe Observatory Quarter Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 6GG

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Opening times:
Monday	08:00 - 20:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 20:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 20:00
Thursday	08:00 - 20:00
Friday	08:00 - 20:00
Saturday	08:00 - 20:00
Sunday	08:00 - 20:00
Our Café and Coffee Bar are open weekdays 08:00 – 16:00. Our Coffee Bar is open weekends 10:00 – 14:00.