In modernity the question of miracles has been almost completely displaced. If they are discussed at all, it is usually to show that their very existence has been excluded due to the rise of scientific explanation. Today, the spread of both sceptical and secular systems of values has relegated miracles to the realm of superstition and credulity. But the issue of miracles does not have to be tied to the rational or the scientific method. This lecture series attempts to provide a godless defence of the miraculous, introducing the idea that the miracle fulfils the wishes of those who bear witness to it. In many ways miracles are the poetry of the poor. This analysis is put into the context of urban everyday life – the contemporary setting of the miraculous. The topic will also be discussed by Mark Cousins and Hans Ulrich Obrist with invited guests during the Serpentine Gallery Marathon on 8 October.