Dr. Michał Murawski

Biography

Michał Murawski is an Associate Professor at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, specializing in Anthropological Architecture and Critical Area Studies. His work examines the complex social lives of monumental buildings and the role of architecture in planning during Eastern European state socialism. He investigates the long-lasting effects of socialist-era built environments on contemporary neoliberal capitalist cities. His current research focuses on the reconstruction processes in Ukraine amidst ongoing conflict. Murawski received his PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge in February 2014, with a dissertation on the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, a significant Stalin-era skyscraper. His book, 'Palace Complex', published by Indiana University Press in March 2019, analyzes Warsaw's societal relationship with this historical structure. He is also completing a book on the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, set to be published in both Polish and English. Murawski's future works include a monograph on the interplay of architecture, politics, and violence in contemporary Russia, scheduled for release by MIT Press in 2026. In 2025, he will co-curate Ukraine's national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, focusing on the themes of domesticity and resistance during wartime in Ukraine.

Research Interests

Experience