Below are select materials relating to the inaugural Supernova Digital Animation Festival, presented over a single day and evening in September of 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The festival was the first of its kind anywhere in the world to employ outdoor LED screens in a broad capacity to deliver an array of motion-based content to the public, and so was market as “Free for All.” Supernova was also the only festival in the world to focus exclusively on digital animation and motion-art as an exciting, rapidly evolving field in both animation and art. The festival was one of the most exciting developments in the course of my career, each year building, broadening and offering more creative opportunities and collaborations that I could ever have imagined. Supernova ran for 7 years straight, concluding following the 2022 iteration of the festival. Funding for the arts suffered greatly as a result of the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and beyond, impacting Supernova as well as numerous other projects that gave Denver a creative pulse. But the 7 years of the festival proved that Denver could be recognized for innovation, a rare collision of specific, unnatural elements combining with perfect timing to create something both fascinating and fabulous. All of the pages devoted to Supernova in my archive can only reveal a minimal view of the undertaking each year. I am continually in the process of adding more to each over the course of time to give as full a picture as possible.
Supernova Digital Animation Festival program previews
SUPERNOVA 2016 Focal Competition Awards
Grand Prize: Peter Burr / The Mess
2nd Prize: Raquel Meyers / Vladijenk II - The corroded mainframe at Tartarus edition
3rd Prize: Alan Warburton / Soft Crash
Honorable Mention: Kendra Fleischman / String Ballet
Honorable Mention: Birch Cooper / Ornamental Threshold Release
A brief documentary view of the inaugural Supernova Digital Animation Festival
The inaugural edition of SUPERNOVA Outdoor Digital Animation and Art Festival took place the weekend of September 23rd/24th in the Denver Theatre District in Denver, Colorado. The festival brings together works by leading artists from across the world for a celebration of today’s most contemporary digital animation and art, all presented free to the public on large-scale LED screens located in the very heart of Denver‘s downtown core. With over 10 hours of continuous programming on three screens, a competition section with significant cash awards, and an all-day education forum featuring three renowned international artists, and a closing multi-media performance by Thug Entrancer and Milton Croissant III, Supernova presented an experience like no other. This video offers a brief glimpse of the whole fantastic experience. Thanks to all the artists who participated in this year’s festival, to the sponsors who made the festival possible, to the staff and volunteers who brought it all to life, to the public who came out and participated and to the Denver Theatre District for hosting this singular cultural opportunity and supporting the infrastructure leading up to the festival over the last five years. This video was produced and directed by Dana Forsberg and a small staff of camera operators and volunteers. Music for the video was generously provided by Ryan McRyhew of Thug Entrancer. ++++++++++++++++++ SUPERNOVA is presented by Denver Digerati with support from Denver Arts And Venues Next Stage NOW!, the Denver Theatre District and exclusive education sponsor CU Denver. SUPERNOVA is also supported in part by Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, cultivating arts & leaders for a vibrant community. Additional support is provided by the Biennial of the Americas, Orange Barrel Media and WeedenLaw. Use of the L.E.D. screens for SUPERNOVA is made possible by Branded Cities.
Supernova 2016 Marketing Materials
It's almost time for the first ever digital animation only festival to be presented exclusively on outdoor LED screens in the core of a major metropolitan city. SUPERNOVA is a singular celebration of digital animation being created by artists from around the world today. Visit supernovadenver.com for full details, and follow us for daily updates on Denver Digerati's Facebook page. SUPERNOVA is presented by Denver Digerati with support from Denver Arts And Venues Next Stage NOW, the Denver Theatre District and our exclusive education sponsor CU Denver. SUPERNOVA is funded in part by The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, cultivating arts & leaders for a vibrant community. Additional support provided by the Biennial of the Americas, Orange Barrel Media and WeedenLaw. SUPERNOVA is the future of public art. Festival Teaser created by Milton Melvin Croissant III, the one and only
Supernova Digital Animation Festival Site Map
Supernova Education Forum featuring International superstar artists!
Supernova Digital Animation Festival T-Shirt Design
Press Reports on the inaugural Supernova Digital Animation Festival
Supernova as Depicted through Minecraft
My son was 9 years old the year that I launched Supernova in Denver, and like most kids his age, fully engaged by the world building computer program Minecraft. I was fascinated by his abilities to create such expansive, profoundly complex and quite beautiful settings through the ongoing use of this tool, one I had absolutely no understanding of or time to learn. I suspected that programs like this were a revolution for his generation, along with a few others that taught or at least incorporated skills that were far more advanced than anything I had available at his age. I also understood them as central to the great transformation the digital age would have on our society, the computer interface, cartoonish style graphics and motion controls all leading to a deeper grasp of animation as a dynamic artform. Kids his age were as mesmerized by the works I had been presenting prior to Supernova through Friday Flash as much if not more than adults, his youth essentially in tandem with the life of my project. This was a huge inspiration for me, one allowing me to reflect back to my own youth and initial discovery of art through comic book illustration artists like the legendary Moebius, animation through films like Heavy Metal and Pink Floyd The Wall, and even LED wallscapes as depicted in Blade Runner, all some of the most treasured media memories of my past. Of course, today there is more illustration, animation and manga series of episodic nature to overwhelm the senses, perhaps dulling them to specific treasured moments. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help feeling that Supernova could open up a pathway into a new and profound future that would coincide with a generational shift. I like to believe that I was right, though time and technology seem to be moving so fast that just about everything feels like but a brief moment in time. My son eventually shifted from Minecraft to the Fortnite and then to other first person shooter games that sadly function like opium to male teen brains. But at the tender age of Nine, when I asked him to build a setting in Minecraft that simulated the LED screen on the side of a building, with an audience at its base viewing cool animation being presented via the screen, this is what he came up with. I was proud of his effort and actually used it in our initial marketing campaign, unsure if anyone else understood the representation and what it stood for. It made me so happy and that’s all that mattered really.
