Juggling multiple projects, and always on the move, Pratchaya Phinthong pursues research projects that have taken him to the farthest reaches of the globe—from harvesting wild berries in Sweden to trapping deadly tsetse flies in Zambia. I tracked down the elusive artist in Tokyo, where he was researching suzumushi (bell crickets), golf clubs, incandescent light bulbs, and Japanese bamboo for a new project. Taking my call from a busy shopping mall, he revealed that he never writes down his ideas. Instead, he lets them drift, sometimes for years, until one sticks and demands action.

Phinthong has been described as an “alchemist” of conceptual art, creating works that serve as portals to diverse places, ideas, and objects. He intricately weaves these elements into thought-provoking narratives that explore global systems, power dynamics, and their far-reaching effects, occasionally drawing from his native Thailand as a starting point. A striking example of this approach was his 2015 exhibition “Who will guard the guards themselves?” at GB Agency in Paris, for which he constructed a replica of the Parisian gallery in Bangkok’s city center, complete with a live surveillance feed viewable on an iPad in the French capital. The centerpiece, a haunting photograph of a deserted yet illuminated 7-Eleven storefront taken after Thailand’s 2014 military coup, offered a formidable critique of unchecked political power. It also exposed the pervasive and often invisible mechanisms of control, and highlighted the disruption of daily life under authoritarian rule. By connecting distant locales, Phinthong’s work dissolves geographical boundaries, highlighting how local events resonate globally, thereby underscoring shared concerns about power and oversight.