Prelude After Ousha
Sound and olfactory performance by Antoine Renard
Prelude After Ousha is a sound and olfactory performance based on a speculative, AI-assisted translation of Infinite Welcome (في صحوة الشعر), a text by the Emirati poet Ousha Bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi. It forms the first act of a fragmented opera project that will continue to unravel at Chapelle des Petits-Augustins of Beaux-Arts de Paris in December 2026 and at the Ettore Fico Foundation in Turin in spring 2027.
Developed in collaboration with the students of Prof. Gulmira Abdukhalikova from the Mawhibaty youth government program by Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism, the performance extends Antoine Renard's ongoing exploration of language as a material system that can be fragmented, translated, and experienced through multiple senses.
Renard's practice moves across sculpture, sound, olfactory art, digital systems, and ethnographic research. Beginning with Ousha Bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi's Nabaṭī poetic tradition, he deconstructs language into phonetic structures, grammatical units, and computational patterns, translating them through algorithms and chemical notation into sound and scent.
Presented in dialogue with Renard's installation INF-WELCOME:// DUNE.CODE (after Ousha Bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi), currently on view in the exhibition Time That Grows Slowly, the performance offers further insight into the artist's research and expands the sensory universe of the installation.
About the Mawhibaty Program
The Mawhibaty Program is a prestigious initiative in the UAE, designed by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism to nurture the exceptional talents of Emirati youth across music, visual arts, performing arts, and public speaking. Through expert mentorship, tailored training, and opportunities to perform and present their work at significant cultural events, the programme supports the development of the next generation of artists while contributing to the preservation and promotion of the UAE's cultural heritage.
Developed in collaboration with the students of Prof. Gulmira Abdukhalikova from the Mawhibaty youth government program by Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism, the performance extends Antoine Renard's ongoing exploration of language as a material system that can be fragmented, translated, and experienced through multiple senses.
Renard's practice moves across sculpture, sound, olfactory art, digital systems, and ethnographic research. Beginning with Ousha Bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi's Nabaṭī poetic tradition, he deconstructs language into phonetic structures, grammatical units, and computational patterns, translating them through algorithms and chemical notation into sound and scent.
Presented in dialogue with Renard's installation INF-WELCOME:// DUNE.CODE (after Ousha Bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi), currently on view in the exhibition Time That Grows Slowly, the performance offers further insight into the artist's research and expands the sensory universe of the installation.
About the Mawhibaty Program
The Mawhibaty Program is a prestigious initiative in the UAE, designed by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism to nurture the exceptional talents of Emirati youth across music, visual arts, performing arts, and public speaking. Through expert mentorship, tailored training, and opportunities to perform and present their work at significant cultural events, the programme supports the development of the next generation of artists while contributing to the preservation and promotion of the UAE's cultural heritage.
DATE
September 18, 2026, 7:00PM
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