'A lecture in Warsaw' - A Warsaw address: a dossier on 36, SmolnaStreet

'A lecture in Warsaw' arose from an invitation to give a talk about public space design in Warsaw. Where totalitarian instincts have repeatedly overwhelmed civil aspirations, what grounds are there for attributing a civilising power to good design? When, at the last minute, I learned that the venue of the lecture (tentatively entitled 'Scratching the Surface') was not a public place but an artist's studio: one, what's more, formerly occupied by a displaced writer ('Mariusz' in the poem) on the place of art, the challenge of speaking was redoubled.