Steve Pratt meets the artists behind the festival that will light up York next week.

THE stained glass masterpiece, the Rose Window, in York Minster, will be seen in a different light next week. A light and sound show centred around the window is one of the star attractions at this year’s Illuminating York.

The festival continues behind the minster in Deans Park, which will host a number of cutting- edge artworks.

Other key attractions around the city are also joining in, with a festival fringe including torch-lit tours, late-night openings and technical discussions.

This isn’t the first time Illuminating York – which has atttracted more than 20,000 visitors to the city – has turned a landmark into works of art. Last year, the ancient Multangular Tower was covered in digitally-created and projected art, with the Tag Tool by Gaia Nova. The year before, the ruined St Mary’s Abbey and the Yorkshire Museum became a canvas for Accendo created by Ross Ashton, who also created Crown Of Light at Durham Cathedral last November.

He and fellow international artist Karen Monid are responsible for this year’s artwork, Rose, which will light up the south transcept of the minster. The husband and wife team were chosen from more than 50 applications from artists across the UK to create the central artwork for this year’s festival.

Ashton, who’ll work on installing the Rose Window display after completing an exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at New York Public Library, knew the organisers were keen on using the minster again. “Instead of using the main entrance, we were struck by the end of the south transcept and the Rose Window,” he says.

“Obviously, it’s a world-famous piece of architecture in a very famous building. You look at the rose and the many meanings it has within the context of the minster as well as in Yorkshire.

It’s also a medieval symbol of perfection and the Virgin Mary. It has a lot of resonance.”

The stonework around the rose window dates from 1240, but the glass took its present form about 1515. The central motif is surrounded by 24 outer compartments, which alternate between red roses and Tudor roses to symbolise the union of the houses of York and Lancaster in 1486 through the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

In 1984, heat from the fire in the south transcept roof produced about 40,000 cracks in the 7,000 pieces of glass. The window was removed and glaziers spent two-and-a-half years repairing the damaged glass, before restoring the window to its original position.

Ashton and Monid’s Rose is being created using imagery from York Minster and Museums archive together with a soundtrack of poetry and music.

Local volunteers reading the words were recorded in the Minster, while the music is an extract from the recording of Magnificat Septimi Toni, by Orlande de Lassus, sung by York Minster Choir.

“We look at the site together and bounce ideas off each other,” explains Monid of their working methods. “The idea is to feel our way through what the potentials are that we can explore and work with.

“While I’m creating the sound Ross is creating the imagery – and we’re talking to each other all the time.”

She creates sound art pieces as standalone installations, as well as creating soundscapes and soundtracks for son et lumiere and projection installations worldwide. Recent work includes Odin’s Glow, the rural outdoor surround sound installation celebrating Viking culture and heritage at Newton-under- Roseberry, on Teesside.

Ashton, who trained in photography and theatre, began specialising in high power projection in 1992, with his son et lumiere pieces receiving worldwide attention. As well as large-scale spectacular pieces for governments around the world, he’s collaborated with other artists and lighting designers on rock and classical concerts and theatre.

“What gets me out of bed in the morning is working with the kind of architecture that we do,” says Ashton. “It’s exciting intellectually to work with World Heritage sites and the depth of history – 800 years in places. I spend my life in a permanent history lesson, learning the history of diffferent places.”

■ Illuminating York runs from Wednesday to Saturday, 7pm to 10pm. For more information go to illuminatingyork.org.uk