Tokyo-based French artist Audrey Fondecave kicks off her series of event and exhibition coverage with a look at the recently extended “No Man’s Land” show.

More than 70 French and Japanese artists, designers, and architects — including myself — were asked to present pieces at the buildings previously used by the French Embassy. The result is an exhibition called “No Man’s Land,” closing on February 18.

In November, the Embassy relocated to a new building built close to the 50-year-old building it previously used, which will be destroyed in March — a luxury mansion will replace it. A few graffiti artists — mainly from the 90s and 2000s) came from France to cover the walls, architect collectives recycled the furniture, showcasing them in a different light. Some of the artists involved showed existing work, while others created new pieces as installation. For myself, I took this opportunity to work on a new version of “Holbein’s Ambassadors,” and then had the 2m x 2m watercolor painting placed in the ambassador’s office. I replaced the ambassadors in the original portrait with two contemporary artists: French conceptual artist Cyril Duval, who has such an interesting and unexpected art approach, and Mai Ueda, a samurai-like Japanese Female performance artist. They are my ambassadors.

I never really thought about the role of an ambassador before I started living abroad — before that it was just a title, nothing more than an idea. But I started to think, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to choose the ambassador? I selfishly picked two friends, female, gay, fashion addicted, handsome, smart, fun, sexy…artists, and I didn’t pick them for their knowledge of international affairs, but they have been traveling in the world, sharing their art and beliefs, and they are flags that I proudly sway.

So if you’re curious to see the result of 77 artists’ thoughts on Embassy matters, you still have two weeks do do so.

Audrey Fondecave is a French artist who has been based in Tokyo since 2002. On top of her artistic work, she keeps a strong connection with the publishing world, working with magazines such as Apartamento, Ryuko Tsushin, Tetu, and more. She’s also an editor and illustrator for OK Fred magazine, and co-hosts the Radio OK Fred podcast. Her artwork has been published by a few Japanese publishers, including PIE Books, Ecrit, and La Galerie des Nakamura.