ATLAS LAB Masterclass 2027 Reconstructing Reality — Documentary, Fiction, and the Politics of Representation Instructors: Max Pinckers + Yumi Goto
In 2025, we held the first edition of the ATLAS LAB Masterclass with Max Pinckers and Yumi Goto.
It became a laboratory in the fullest sense of the word.
Participants arrived with projects at very different stages of development and spent the programme repeatedly questioning, dismantling, testing and reorganizing their work through photographs, texts, research, editing, structure, and possible forms of presentation.
The aim of this masterclass is not to bring a project to completion within a few days.
What are you actually asking through the work, and why? From what position are you engaging with your subject? What do you choose to include, withhold, construct or reveal? And what form is genuinely appropriate for the material you are working with?
By examining these decisions closely, participants are invited to return to the foundations of their projects and reconsider the methods through which they are being developed.
Collective learning is also central to the programme. The value lies not only in receiving feedback on one’s own work, but in witnessing how other projects are questioned, challenged and transformed. Even when another participant is working with a completely different subject or approach, following that process can unexpectedly change the way we understand our own practice.
Following the experience and momentum of the first edition, ATLAS LAB Masterclass returns in January 2027.
This edition will take place over four days, divided into two sessions with an interval in between.
The first two days will begin with a lecture by Max Pinckers, followed by project sharing, individual feedback and collective discussion. Each participant will work toward identifying the questions and challenges that are most relevant to their project and defining what they need to investigate or test during the interval.
The days between the two sessions are an integral part of the masterclass. Participants will use this period for self-directed work—research, photographing, editing, restructuring, writing, testing formats, or any other process that their project requires.
During the final two days, participants will return with what has changed, what has remained unresolved, and what new questions have emerged. Through further individual reviews and collective discussion, we will consider how each project can continue to develop beyond the masterclass.
Rather than fixing every session in advance, the detailed structure will remain responsive to the participants selected and to the specific needs of their projects.
These four days are not intended to produce finished works. They are a concentrated period in which to sharpen questions, reconsider methods, and establish stronger directions for the work that continues afterwards.
■Dates
January 18–19 + January 26–27, 2027
4 days in total
Independent Work Period
January 20–25
Participants will work independently on research, photography, editing, restructuring, or other assignments that emerge from the first two days.
There will be no formal instructor sessions during this period.
■Venue
Reminders Photography Stronghold Tokyo
2-38-5 Higashimukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan
■Instructors
Max Pinckers
Yumi Goto / RPS
■Who Should Apply
The programme is intended for photographers and lens-based artists who:
・are working on documentary- or research-based projects;
・are developing projects rooted in social, historical, or personal subjects;
・want to reconsider the content, structure, editing, narrative, authorial position, ethics of representation, or presentation of an ongoing project;
・are prepared to question and, when necessary, dismantle or restructure their existing approach;
・are willing to engage openly with critique and different perspectives while continuing to make their own decisions about the work.
There is no requirement regarding career stage or years of experience. Applicants should, however, have an ongoing project that they are prepared to work on throughout the four workshop days and the interval period.
■Participants
10 participants / selection-based
If applications exceed capacity, participants will be selected based on their submitted project materials and motivation.
All applicants will be notified of the results by email by the end of November 2026.
■Participation Fee
JPY 75,000 + tax
JPY 82,500 including tax
Payment instructions and the deadline will be sent to selected participants.
Participation will be confirmed once payment has been received.
■Language
The masterclass will primarily be conducted in English.
Japanese support and translation or interpretation tools may be used when necessary.
Fluent English is not a requirement. More important is a willingness to communicate about your work, listen to different perspectives, and participate actively across languages.
■Programme Structure — Tentative
First Session | January 18–19
・Introductory lecture by Max Pinckers
・References, works and case studies introduced by the instructors
・Participant project presentations
・Individual reviews and feedback
・Collective discussion
・Identification of each project’s central questions and current challenges
・Definition of directions or assignments for the interval period
Independent Work Period | January 20–25
Participants will continue working independently based on the questions and assignments that emerge from the first session.
This may involve photography, research, editing, sequencing, writing, collecting materials, reconsidering structure, testing exhibition or photobook formats, or any other process appropriate to the project.
Final Session | January 26–27
・Sharing developments and discoveries from the interval
・Individual reviews and feedback
・Further consideration of editing, structure and methodology
・Collective discussion
・Final sharing
・Identifying directions for the continued development of each project
The above is a general framework. The detailed schedule and allocation of time will be adapted according to the selected participants and the needs of their projects.
■Requirements and Preparation
Participants should:
・be available for all four workshop days;
・be able to dedicate time to their project during the interval period;
・prepare photographs, texts, research materials, notes, mock-ups or other relevant materials in advance;
・be able to present project materials physically when necessary;
・bring a laptop and access to their project files;
・be able to use basic image-editing software such as Photoshop or Lightroom when necessary;
・note that knowledge of Adobe InDesign or other DTP software is not required, although it may be useful;
・be open to differing perspectives and willing to reconsider their work throughout the programme.
Further preparation details will be sent to selected participants.
■Application Period
October 15 – November 22, 2026
Deadline: Sunday, November 22 at 11:59 PM JST
■How to Apply
Please apply through the designated Google Form:
Application form : https://forms.gle/WAdvQyc6nVnV7zXc6
■Selection
If the number of applications exceeds the available places, participants will be selected based on the submitted materials.
Selection will not be based solely on how resolved or polished a project already appears. We will consider the application as a whole, including the questions the applicant is currently working through, the stage the project has reached, and what they hope to examine or develop through the masterclass.
All applicants will be notified of the result by email by the end of November 2026.
■About the Masterclass
ATLAS LAB is not designed to lead every participant toward a predetermined outcome or methodology.
Nor is the purpose simply to follow the suggestions of the instructors.
Feedback and differing perspectives are treated as material through which participants can clarify their own decisions.
A project may need to be dismantled and reconsidered. Something that has remained vague may need to be articulated. A participant may discover that no further photographs are needed—or that entirely new research and image-making must begin.
The aim is not to find an answer within four days, but to reach a point from which each participant can make more conscious decisions about how the work should continue.
Instructor
Max Pinckers
Max Pinckers (b. 1988) is a photographer and researcher based in Brussels.
His practice continuously questions the relationships between reality, fiction, staging, testimony and authorship within documentary photography. Through extensive research, collaboration, performance and cinematic strategies, he considers photography not simply as a means of reproducing the world as it appears, but as a space for examining how reality is constructed, narrated and believed.
His major works and publications include The Fourth Wall, Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty, Margins of Excess, Red Ink, and State of Emergency. Alongside his photographic practice, he is active in research, publishing and education, continuing to examine documentary photography through both practice and theory.
www.maxpinckers.be
Yumi Goto / RPS
Yumi Goto is a curator at Reminders Photography Stronghold. Her practice involves long-term engagement with photographic projects rooted in social and historical contexts, working closely with artists on concept development, editing, sequencing, photobooks, exhibitions and other forms through which a project may take shape.
Within this masterclass, she approaches each project from a perspective distinct from that of Max Pinckers, considering its context, the position of the artist, editing, structure and possible forms of presentation in order to explore what the work itself requires.