A new exhibition of sculpture will be opening on Thursday, May 16, at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

'Time and relative dimensions in space' is the result of a year-long residency at the museum by London-based artist Mark Wallinger.

Mr Wallinger is best-known for his sculpture of Jesus, 'Ecce Homo', which occupied the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 1999.

The residency, entitled 'With the Beetles', is part of the Millennium celebrations for the Arts Council project, Year of the Artist, which began in June 2000.

The Year of the Artist aims to raise the status and profile of living artists by placing 1,000 of them in 1,000 residencies across the UK, taking them out of traditional spaces usually associated with art and placing them in unusual and surprising locations.

Mr Wallinger said: "The task of the experts at the museum is to find the best way to communicate their expertise. Their knowledge and scholarship is used creatively to capture the attention of the widest audience possible. The challenge as an artist is to make something equally arresting."

Entry to the exhibition at the museum in Parks Road, Oxford, is free.