The old hallways and rooms of the ex-French Embassy blossomed into works of art.

The gates to No Man’s Land by Nicolas Buffe

I was inspired from the moment I walked into ‘No Man’s Land‘. The exhibition displayed the works of over 70 French and Japanese modern artists, ranging from installations, paintings, photography and street art. It was enjoyable to see the unification of both countries and how each artist designed the given space to fit their own style. These were a few of my personal favorites:

Parisian artist, Nicolas Buffe’s ‘Arche’ represented the gates into No Man’s Land. Buffe’s work could be described as beautiful details drawn with chalk on a blackboard.

Sabine Pigalle

French photographer, Sabine Pigalle’s film ‘Dévôt-Ration’ projected onto layers of thin transparent fabric. The room contained sheets of white cloth and broken plates on the ground which followed the story of the film.

Erina Matsui

Tama Art University student, Erina Matsui created a fairytale-acid-trip-like forest composed with her famous mushrooms and strange faces.

K-Narf/Frank Le Petit

French visual artist, Frank Le Petit aka K-Narf, famous for his ‘photograffiti’ produced collages of French diplomats. His work involves making digital collages, ripping them off into pieces and pasting them onto the wall.

Other artists featured in this exhibition were Jef Aérosol, Mathieu Grialou, Speedy Graphito, Takashi Nakajima, Agathe de Bailliencourt, Claude Lévêque, Lilian Bourgeat, Audrey Fondecave, Sarah Dolatabadi and many more.

No Man’s Land closed in mid-February 2010 for demolishment and celebrated the opening of a new French Embassy next door.

No Man’s Land
Date: 21st November, 2009 – 18th February, 2010
Place: Ambassade de France au Japon
Address: 4-11-44 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)3 5798 6161
https://www.ambafrance-jp.org