ROSS Ashton and Karen Monid complete a hat-trick of Illuminating York commissions with their 2013 work Triquetra, projected on to Clifford’s Tower from tomorrow to Saturday.

Sheffield-born projection artist Ashton and London sound artist/soundscape designer Monid previously designed Accendo in the Museum Gardens in 2008 and Rose at York Minster in 2010.

Artists at this year’s festival have been asked to create an artwork based around York’s Viking history to mark 1,000 years since the first Danish King of England, King Sweyn Forkbeard.

Ashton and Monid’s resulting projection on Clifford’s Tower and the Roman hill beneath it will tell the tale of the three Viking kings of Denmark who had a great influence on York and England, in particular the aforementioned Forkbeard, who was buried, albeit briefly, at York, and his son Cnut the Great.

“York is a fantastic place to work, with its layers of history and the traces left behind by the different civilisations, not only in the buildings but also in the people of York,” says Ross.

“The city is full of stories waiting to be told and this year Karen and I are excited to be working for the first time with such an iconic location as Clifford’s Tower, both the building and the landscape on which it stands.”

Partners in life as well as art, Ashton and Monid were delighted to win the commission for their 2013 work, Triquetra, which takes its name from a Viking symbol. “A lot of our work is a celebration of place and its relationship with history and the people who live there, which Karen and I really enjoy,” says Ross, who admits to he and Karen having been “pretty ignorant of York’s Viking history”.

“But having received the commission, we researched the Danish dynasty and have put together a narrative that lasts ten to 12 minutes, and there’s actually more of a story for this piece than we’ve worked with recently.

“It makes it more difficult to tell this kind of story because you’re more tied to illustrating it rather than interpreting it, so the imagery for the three kings reflects their journey from paganism to Christianity and a small kingdom to a huge empire.”

In addition to Ross and Karen being thorough in their own research, they put out a call for Old Norse and Old English speakers to translate historical documents and poems. “We had experts from four universities – Cambridge, Sheffield, Warwick and York – assisting us after we had a huge response from people who really love their subject and rarely get this opportunity,” he says.

Among the texts will be the York Gospel, containing the pioneering charter between King Cnut and his people, in which he established the king’s duties to his people and what their relationship with him should be.

Karen notes: “What’s interesting about this letter is that it was written in Old English, the vernacular, rather than Latin as Cnut was trying to be the king of the people, instead of hiding behind language they wouldn’t understand.”

Today’s politicians should take a leaf out of that book.

• The Illuminating York 2013 Festival runs from tomorrow until Saturday, 6pm to 10pm each night. Tickets for Triquetra can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk