City's leading lights inspiration behind this year's Illuminating York

YORK'S leading lights through the centuries are the inspiration behind this year's Illuminating York, named as one of Europe's top ten light attractions by The Guardian.

Hidden Worlds, the central artwork on the Crown Court at the Eye of York, Is inspired by York-born John Snow, the 19th century physician who discovered how cholera spread and pioneered the use of anaesthetics.

An artist's impression of Hidden Worlds at this year's Illuminating York

This is the first time seeper, the artists creating Hidden Worlds, have performed at the festival.

The company has produced some of the world's most ambitious 3D projection mapping shows during it's 15-year history.

The York homage to Snow's story aims to take the audience into the hidden worlds if the microscope and the unconscious.

The range and scale of previous work can be gleaned from two previous projects.

An installation at a nightclub in Bangalore in India comprised 70 cubes of various shapes and sizes.

The projection mapped motion graphics were both sound and motion reactive allowing the DJ and clobbers to take part in creating the atmosphere.

A programme allowed the DJ to remix the visuals live.

Back at the BBC in 2012 seeper created a Christmas special techno-driven finale for the closing of The One Show Live on BBC1.

Clips from popular shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who were reworked into a two-minute, three-dimensional BBC Christmas experience to kickstarter the BBC Christmas experience.

Hidden Worlds will tell Snow's story but in a different way, producer-director Alex Tennyson says: "Our direction is to be a little bit more abstract and also do a fun show.

"There's no film footage or actors. It's all going to be animated with computer graphics art.

Alex Tennyson, of seeper

"It's different in that the show,is bespoke to the place and the theme of John Snow. All the content is being made uniquely for this show."

The Crown Court has been laser scanned to gauge the depth of the features. "It's a nice building and made of quite light-coloured stone which is helpful for projecting light. There are a lot of windows which, considering it's a high profile, functioning building I don't think they're going to allow us to cover us. So we have to work around the windows but the building has a lot of nice little features we can use," he says.

Six projectors, each ten times more powerful,than the average home projector, will be used to expose the story of Hidden Worlds.

Of past projects on which he's worked Tennyson is perhaps,proudest of an event at the Titanic building in Belfast, which houses an exhibition about the doomed liner in the former shipyard where Titanic was built. Seeper projected a 40-minute show on three sides of,the building with 60,000 people watching.

In addition to Hidden Worlds, visitors to York will be able to see 11 other new illuminating artworks across the city.

The free supporting programme includes a mix of static illuminated artworks, performance and projection across the city. Impossible Arts will present Codex, a magical art installation at the Coppergate Centre, while Twist Design have created The Wheels of Industry for King’s Square. Viaperformance return with Then Chocolate Shall it Be at King’s Manor and finally, Haydn Robinson will present Time and Space.

Illuminating York runs from Oct 29-Nov 1.

Tickets for Hidden Worlds £4, £3 for under 16s. Free for under fives. Under 12s must be accompanied by an adult. A £1 transaction fee applies. Tickets from York Theatre Royal box office on 01904-623568 and online yorktheatreroyal.co.uk For the full programme of all the artworks visit illuminatingyork.org