Majestic play: Khaldoun Hijazin

The Majestic and Holy have been always related to the metaphysical transcendence and its effect upon us - the spectators, even if this effect entails a certain fear. In his “Critique of Judgment”, Kant argues that every majestic manifestation implies a positive pleasure, admiration, respect and sometimes “fear”, as in what is known to be the transfiguration of iconic figures in religions.  

The majestic appearance always overwhelms us, challenging us beyond our senses, reason, comprehension and perception. It remained like that until the age of modern consumption and capitalism, when production took over god’s throne, and consumption became our loyal expression of belief, resulting in multiple dogmatic dynasties of power, which came solidified and fluid.

Because art compels us to interpretation by playing and enjoying, by construction and destruction and by passing from a meaning to another; as every presence includes absence, I feel obliged to reconstruct every theatrical scene of these majestic appearances and its dynastic powers within, to give us all the chance to story-tell another kind of majesty.

By Abdullah Bayyari