Dissolving and transfiguring monasteries through light

This article will explore the sense of presence of the ruin of St Augustine’s Abbey, how history is forgotten and reinvented as “heritage-art” through light installations. The paper asks what happens when the ruin becomes something “other” through light interventions. The paper investigates notions of entropy, how the process of disintegration can be exhilarating in and of itself, highlighting the structural and metaphorical dissolution of the monastery. The paper examines ideas of restoration and transfiguration through light.