Type: Conference / Seminar

We are surrounded by popular culture weighed down by heavy baggage. Outmoded, sometimes harmful depictions of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class and more have hardened into stereotypes that are thoughtlessly reproduced. Narrative structures driven by conflict and conquest dominate our storytelling. And even when the patterns are broken – by dark-skinned mermaids or queer side characters – the giant media corporations doing the messaging rarely seem to have any real interest in defying the status quo.

US cartoonist, illustrator and character designer Ronald Wimberly has made it his mission to critically examine the entertainment industry’s depiction of especially black American culture. He’ll share his thoughts and insights in the first part of his masterclass, 10-12, where he is interviewed by Weekendavisen comics critic Erik Barkman.

The second part of the masterclass is all about exploring alternative narrative forms – specifically “kishoutenketsu”, Japanese four act structure. Wimberly has studied and used this ancient form of storytelling in his own work, and from 13-16 he will challenge masterclass participants to do the same.

Ronald Wimberly

Artist and writer of a series of graphic novels – Sentences, Prince of Cats, and most recently Now Let Me Fly – as well as the political comics newspaper LAAB. He has also created a number of shorter pieces for The New Yorker, DC/Vertigo, Nike, Marvel, and Dark Horse Comics among others. Wimberly was a 2008 recipient of the Glyph Comics Award and has been nominated for two Eisner Awards. He has also worked as a character designer on the animated tv series Black Dynamite.

Local and national creative visual educations, actors in culture and companies are all invited to Creative Viborg Day during Viborg Animation Festival at Paletten and Tinghallen.

We aim to repeat the successes from previous years, but this time in a different manner. The city of Viborg will become a hub for expressing visual creativity in a variety of fields and to debate the potential and application of new technologies.

There will be a light breakfast, lunch and finally cold drinks and networking.

During the day you can experience:

Anne Stampe – New chairman at Arsenalet

Sofie Hvidvedt, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies.

Austin, USA – The Music and Media Arts Capital of the world

Viborg F.F.

&Co – AI as creative tool

Kit Monkman – The artists behind ”Peole We Love”

There is also gold in Houlkær!

Cadpeople

Viborg Creative Alliance

See who receives the first Creative Viborg Award

… and much more

The day consist of plenary and breakout sessions, debates and lots of time to network.

The event is supported by Vision Denmark and the Danish Board of Business Development

Welcome to CMIF 2023, the annual one-day conference tailored for Producers and Creative Leads within the animation and VFX industry, set against the vibrant backdrop of the Viborg Animation Festival.

The purpose of CMIF is to guide you through the dynamic currents of the animation industry, embrace fresh perspectives, share knowledge and inspiration, as well as engage in networking. Hopefully, CMIF will be the stepping stone towards your next great project, partnership, or idea.

Throughout its history, the animation industry has consistently pushed the boundaries of technology or adapted new technologies, techniques and production methods, resulting in ever-evolving forms of storytelling and entertainment. CMIF 2023 will take a look at where we are now and what to expect and how new technology will influence creative choices, mindsets and business models.

Program

• Sofie Hvitved, Senior Advisor & Head of Media, Copenhagen Institute of Futures studies: Perspectives on the future of the Media Industry
• Dylan Sisson, Pixar: Exploring the Boundaries of Creativity: AI, VR, and VFX
• Erik Smitt, Director of Creative Production, Skydance: Creative Production, Two Sides of the Same Coin
• Paneurama, Morten Thorning & Roberta Jablonskyte: Presentation of a new alliance across industry, education and R&D. 
• Philippe Llerena, CTO Fortiche & Emmanuelle Aubeau, Talent Acquisition Manager Fortiche: ARCANE: Behind the Scenes of the Hit Series: Target Audience, New Technologies, and Talent Search. They will explore different aspects, such as defining the target audience, discussing talent acquisition challenges, and highlighting innovative production technologies.
• Danske Filminstruktører and VAF presents: 6 pitches for content aimed at an adult audience (read more here)

… and Networking opportunities.

(Remember to sign up for The Palette Mixer as well HERE)

Together with VAF, Funday Games invite some of the great minds from the gaming industry to join us for a celebration of art in games – and the art of crafting, designing and putting life into game characters.

We believe great people make great games, so we have invited some from industry friends that will share learnings to level up your game – in more than one sense. This year is all about “Characters in Games” and how we create them.

With expert guests and inspiring artists – the day is geared towards students and media industry audience. We discussed VR art, distribution, reaching new audiences, and personal approaches to making work.

10:00 – 12:00 Student screening
14:00 – 15:00 ‘Meet the artists’: Melanie Courtinat (FR) and Darren Emerson (UK)
15:00 – 15:30 Artist talk: Abner Preis, VR creator (NL)

Mélanie Courtinat

Mélanie Courtinat is an award-winning immersive art director and artist, born and based in Paris, France. Considering video games as a major medium, she focuses on their extraordinary immersive properties, and seeks to push back their limits. As an art director, she works on commissioned projects or clients in the Luxury, Fashion, Culture & Music fields. Mélanie also teaches video game theory at Écal in Lausanne.

Darren Emerson

Darren Emerson is an Immersive Artist, Director, Writer, and Producer and the Co-Founder of London production company East city films. His works had been shown at Venice biennale, IDFA Doc Lab, Tribeca Film Festival, Sheffield Doc Fest and won the awards for Best Immersive Storytelling at Sandbox Immersive Festival, the Grand Prix Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Best VR Experience at the Broadcast Awards, and Best VR Narrative at the World.

Abner Preis

Abner Preis is a story-teller whose work is rooted in personal aspirations to give one hope in a situation that seems hopeless, to transfer the ability to laugh at sadness. What his extensive research, sensitivity and awareness provide is the simple and extremely difficult ability to tell a story with visuals that can be felt before they are understood. Abner was awarded tur ANIDOX:VR Award for his work ‘The Wind Through the Curtains’ in 2020 and is presenting his current work as part of the Expanded Animation Lab at VAF.

Join us at CAVE Conference – the premier event for concept artists and visual thinkers in the entertainment industry. Attend talks from top industry professionals, gain inspiration, share knowledge, and network with fellow artists. Don’t miss out on the biggest Concept Art conference in Scandinavia. Register now and join us in Viborg, Denmark.

Speakers for this year’s cave include:

Jama Jurabaev, Senior Concept Artist, Lucasfilm
Atey Ghailan, Founder & Creative Director, Envar Entertainment
Ron Ashtiani, Creative Leader & Co-Founder, Big Thursday Creative
Darek Zabrocki, Founder & Creative Director, Focal Point School & Darek Zabrocki Studio
Rasmus Poulsen, Franchise Art Director, IO Interactive
Antonio Stappaerts, Founder & Creative Director, Sqetch & ArtWod
Maarten Hermans, Concept Designer, Karakter & One Pixel Brush
Guillaume Normand, Concept Artist, Envar Entertainment
Jort van Welbergen, Concept Artist, HBO & Marvel
Leon Tukker, Concept Artist, Wizards of the Coast & Netflix
And more!

Register today and stay tuned!

CAVE is originally created from the ideas of Andreas Husballe, Jannick Lund and Christian Demény Rasmussen from Vizlab Studios. They wanted to create a Danish hotspot for the world’s greatest concept artists to meet and share their knowledge through talks and live show-and-tell sessions.

CAVE seeks to support:

– EXPERIENCE SHARING
Get to know how other professionals work and think in their creative approach
– TIPS & TRICKS
A great opportunity to pick the professionals’ brains for new knowledge
– NETWORK & FEEDBACK
Speakers and Industry Artists give you professional feedback on your portfolio

Programme

Thursday (Day 1)

10:00-10:15 Welcome by Vizlab Studios
10:15-11:15 Maarten Hermans
11:30-12:30 Cumron Ashtiani
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break & Networking
14:00-15:00 Rasmus Poulsen
15:15-16:15 Atey Ghailan
16:15-17:00 Guillaume Normand

Friday (Day 2)

10:00-11:00 Vizlab Studios
11:15-12:30 Jama Jurabaev
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break & Networking
14:00-15:00 Darek Zabrocki
15:15-16:15 Leon Tukker
16:15-17:00 Jort van Welbergen

Insights on the current development: New technologies, new consumption patterns, new expectations, new ambitions and new generations. Everything impacts the future media landscape, and therefore becomes important for the industry producing content from fact to fiction, and advertisement for the digital platforms. The goal is to learn about both the challenges and the opportunities the industry faces today.

Program

13.00 Welcome
By Mads Schmidt Haagensen, Media College Denmark

13.10 The media landscape of the future
Sofie Hvitved and Bugge Holm Hansen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, who give their take on how the media landscape will change over the coming years. How does the media consumer of the future behave? What kind of content will dominate? What will AI mean? And what about democracy, representation and public service?

14.00 The ballad about ‘Kolonihaven’
‘Everything is complete; whimsically and elegantly delivered.’ That’s what the film magazine EKKO writes in its review of probably the most talked about documentary series, Kolonihaven, at the moment. Meet producer Majbrit Oddershede Pedersen and photographer Frederik Thyberg in a Q&A, which, supplemented with selected clips, examines the grip of the series and, not least, perspectives for future Public Service TV.

15.00 Coffee break

15.15 AI – is already here!
Artificial intelligence takes up a lot of space in the debate, both in relation to future media production and how we can best educate for the future.
Hear how Media College Denmark uses AI and see examples of how far we are in relation to programming and image processing.

15.45 Debate: Implications for education
What should we prioritize when training future employees in the media industries? Panel debate and three points on the way forward for the school, the industry and the programmes.

16.30 Screening and Q&A (TBC)

With this year’s theme ‘Art and Aesthetics – in education and pedagogy’ we ask: What does art mean for the well-being and general education for children and young people?

Does the development of aesthetic- and production-oriented teaching processes strengthen children’s and young people’s motivation and participation in the class room?

Sci-Vi Seminar 2023

When research communication moves out of text-heavy publications and becomes visual productions – a seminar on Science Visualization

What can it look like when research dissemination moves out of text-heavy publications and becomes visual expressions? When the research format moves out of books and publications and becomes visual, where does it go?

At this years Sci-Vi seminar we will look at different platforms for animated research communication.

We have chosen to present a preponderance of cases about climate and environmental productions as examples, but the day is relevant for all research- and knowledge fields and – environments as well as visual storytellers, animators, illustrators, producers and people in the visual industry in general.

Remember to book tickets for the Sci-Vi screening as well.

VIEW THE FULL PROGRAM HERE

Sci-Vi is supported by Vision Denmark and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

Vizlab Studios proudly presents: CAVE 2023!

CAVE Concept Art & Visual Exploration

Attend talks from top industry professionals, gain inspiration, share knowledge, and network with fellow artists. Don’t miss out on the biggest Concept Art conference in Scandinavia. Register now and join us in Viborg, Denmark.

Speakers for this year’s cave include:

Jama Jurabaev, Senior Concept Artist, Lucasfilm
Atey Ghailan, Founder & Creative Director, Envar Entertainment
Ron Ashtiani, Creative Leader & Co-Founder, Big Thursday Creative
Darek Zabrocki, Founder & Creative Director, Focal Point School & Darek Zabrocki Studio
Rasmus Poulsen, Franchise Art Director, IO Interactive
Antonio Stappaerts, Founder & Creative Director, Sqetch & ArtWod
Maarten Hermans, Concept Designer, Karakter & One Pixel Brush
Guillaume Normand, Concept Artist, Envar Entertainment
Jort van Welbergen, Concept Artist, HBO & Marvel
Leon Tukker, Concept Artist, Wizards of the Coast & Netflix
And more!

Register today and stay tuned!

CAVE is originally created from the ideas of Andreas Husballe, Jannick Lund and Christian Demény Rasmussen from Vizlab Studios. They wanted to create a Danish hotspot for the world’s greatest concept artists to meet and share their knowledge through talks and live show-and-tell sessions.

CAVE seeks to support:
– EXPERIENCE SHARING
Get to know how other professionals work and think in their creative approach
– TIPS & TRICKS
A great opportunity to pick the professionals’ brains for new knowledge
– NETWORK & FEEDBACK
Speakers and Industry Artists give you professional feedback on your portfolio

Programme

Thursday (Day 1)
10:00-10:15 Welcome by Vizlab Studios
10:15-11:15 Maarten Hermans
11:30-12:30 Cumron Ashtiani
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break & Networking
14:00-15:00 Rasmus Poulsen
15:15-16:15 Atey Ghailan
16:15-17:00 Guillaume Normand

Friday (Day 2)
10:00-11:00 Vizlab Studios
11:15-12:30 Jama Jurabaev
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break & Networking
14:00-15:00 Darek Zabrocki
15:15-16:15 Leon Tukker
16:15-17:00 Jort van Welbergen