The title of this Master course is taken from an ongoing project initiated by Bik Van der Pol in 2003, in collaboration with artists, thinkers, and architects. Since its initiation, the School of Missing Studies has functioned as a nomadic, collaborative platform for experimental study and research of the public environment that is currently undergoing abrupt transitions. Under the roof of the Sandberg Instituut the project operates as a one-time Master programme. Following the observation that singular disciplines frequently fail to discern or capture significant knowledge about uncommon or unprecedented situations, the Master invites students to develop, discuss and share possible methods to scout for this information, which seems to flow freely in unbound space and through open networks. Participation in the programme is not restricted to artists; the project brings together practitioners with diverse educational or professional backgrounds, who aspire to make ‘the missing’ key to their mission and are interested in artistic practice as a modus operandi for imagination and productive speculation. Both art project and Master course, the project proposes to find common and uncommon grounds for research and practice, from where acute political, social, educational and urban challenges can be articulated and further debated.

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