Quentin Armand, Walead Beshty, Etienne Chambaud, Angeline Dekker, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Ryan Gander, gerlach en koop, Benoît Maire, Ane Mette Hol, Navid Nuur, Pauline Oltheten, Evariste Richer, Ton Schuttelaar, Joëlle Tuerlinckx Guest curator: Arno van Roosmalen, Director of Stroom den Haag, The Netherlands Director: Sophie Legrandjacques, Le Grand Café, France In April 2006 the exhibition Modern(c)ité II, conceived by the Grand Café, was shown at the art centre Stroom Den Haag by invitation of its director Arno van Roosmalen. The dialogue between the two structures continues today with “Radical Autonomy”, a project proposed by Arno van Roosmalen as the Grand Café’s first guest curator. There is a young generation of artists in The Hague that accord a central place to the questions of perception and interpretation. This phenomenon, which can also be seen in several emerging artists on the international scene, mixes a conceptual approach with minimal form to produce work-enigmas. Intimate and condensed, they invite the spectator to take the time to observe and to reflect, to take the risk of expanding her own perception of the world. At a time when (purely visual) art could easily be absorbed by neighbouring disciplines such as design, fashion, architecture or advertising to economic, political or social ends, the artists brought together in “Radical Autonomy” remind us that ” art could be a sanctuary for futility, obscurity, insight, ambivalence, joy and unease.” (1) (1) Maarten Doorman, “Gefoeter op moderne kunst is laf” (“Bashing modern art is cowardish”), De Volkskrant, 23.05.2009 Le Grand Café, centre d’art contemporain Place des Quatre Z’horloges 44 600 Saint-Nazaire – FRANCE T + 33 (0)2 44 73 44 00 grand_cafe@mairie-saintnazaire.fr http://www.grandcafe-saintnazaire.fr