Philipp Groth (b. 1993, German) works across social sculpture, architecture, photography, and other media. He is based in Chicago, IL.

Photo by Makayla Lindsay Adams, 2023

Chart by Philipp Groth
2026

Chart by Philipp Groth
2026
He is co-founder of the artist initiative "by bye", a collaborative project that repurposes soon-to-be-gone spaces in Chicago into provisional sites for artistic experimentation. Currently, he continues his research as a Fellow under Madeleine Grynsztejn at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
Groth is a post-studio artist interested in the adaption of the crisis as form – a practice of being attuned to systematic openings and occupying them temporarily before they close. Opportunism as generative artistic labor, constructed through the flows of crisis itself.
For Groth, this connects to questions of urban redevelopment, community, and access.
His artistic and curatorial practice is driven by and exists in gaps: the intervals a system produces as a byproduct of its own development logic. Gaps in the city, institutional frameworks, consumer culture – these are the spaces Groth enters, activates (temporarily), and carefully invites others in.
In order to create opportunity himself, Groth does not import material so much as redirect what is already present. The work becomes what happens inside these temporary places and structures: Conversations between friends or strangers, gatherings, protocols, and scarce documentation in text or image form.
In his daily walking practice, Groth films and photographs the lifecycle of the built environment in his neighborhood – its demolition, assembly, and use. He follows bricks and other materials in between uses and writes protocols of their whereabouts, giving him a destination to walk to, return to, and direct his attention to.
He holds a MA (2021) with Distinction in Documentary Film from the University of the Arts London and a MFA (2022) in Studio Art from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), along his studies as a LeRoy Neiman Fellow (2023) at Ox-Bow School of Art. From 2017 to 2020, Groth taught Film at the SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences.
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2025 | Museum of Contemporary Art Director's Office Fellowship, Chicago, under Madeleine Grynsztejn |
2024 | founding of the art initiative by bye with Jonas Mueller-Ahlheim |
2023 | LeRoy Neiman Fellowship at Ox Bow School of the Arts and Artist Residency, Saugatuck |
2023 | artist in residence at A4 Museum, Chengdu |
2021- | studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA), United States, with Jan Tichy, Jefferson Pinder, Frederic Moffet |
2023 | solo exhibition Situation als Akt at CON Gallery, Tokyo |
2022 | Dean Prof Development Award 2022 by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
2021 | Dean Professional Development Award 2021 by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
2020- | studies at the University of Arts London, United Kingdom (MA) |
2018- | visiting professorship at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences (former Berlin Academy of Design), Berlin |
2018 | founding of the artist group acte berlin |
2011- | studies at the Berlin Academy of Design (BA), Berlin, with Prof. Sebastian Denz |
1993 | born in Saarbruecken, Germany |
Publications
OPPORTUNISM (2026)
Text
2023
Studio
Email: studio@philippgroth.com
Instagram: @philipp_groth
https://philippgroth.com
Address: 2721 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60614
By bye
Email: contact@bybye.net
Instagram: @bybyeavondale
https://bybye.net