Lilly Urbat (she/her) is a Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist and photographer. Her practice centers around the performative staging of bodies, symbols, and consumer aesthetics, using photography, video, and live visuals to explore the intersections of pop culture, feminism, and image politics. With a distinct sense of humor and an affinity for exaggeration, she creates hybrid visual spaces that deconstruct dominant narratives and recode visual language through subversive strategies.
Urbat’s work challenges how cultural myths and media aesthetics shape our collective imagination—posing questions around power, representation, and visibility. Often drawing on corporate design, mythology, and internet debris, her pieces are both affective and critical, rooted in feminist thought and a fascination for the absurd.
After co-founding an internet label, she co-hosted 404.earth (2014–2019), “a podcast driven by artistic research that negotiates the social and cultural implications of technological progress.”
Lilly Urbat was artist-in-residence at Petrohradska Kolektiv in Prague. Her works and video projections have been shown at institutions including Haus der Kunst, Muffatwerke and Galerie der Künstler in Munich, Contemporary Fine Arts and Zeiss Großplanetarium in Berlin, Schnütgen Museum in Cologne, Kunstpalais in Erlangen, UMPRUM in Prague, Galerie Krobath in Vienna, and at numerous festivals. She is a member of the international collective Femxphotographers.org, which publishes biannual editions with Hatje Cantz. Her work has been featured in System Magazine, Photonews, Profifoto, Missy Magazine, VOGUE Germany, and Salamé Magazine.
part of femxhotographers.org, Holzingerurbat, VG Bild-Kunst, BBK Berlin
Education
2016 Diploma, Academy Of Fine Arts Nuremberg, GER
2014 Photography, Juergen Teller, Academy Of Fine Arts Nuremberg, GER
2013 Media Art, Michael Bielicky / Vadim Fishkin, Karlsruhe School Of Design, GER
2010 Graphic-Design, AdBK Nuremberg, GER
Awards
2024 Jury prize, Zorn foundation, Kunstnacht, Kempten, GER
2020 Nominated C/O Talent Award, Berlin, GER
2019 Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur, CH
2018 Bavarian Award for the Advancement of the Arts, Munich, GER
Collections
2021 Municipal Art Collection Erlangen, GER
2017 Municipal Art Collection Erlangen, GER
2015 Sparkasse Nuremberg Art Collection, GER
Grants / Commissions / Residencies
2025 Stipend, BB Stiftung, Stuttgart, GER
2022 Stipend, Foundation Kunstfonds, Bonn, GER
Project grant, BFKM, Neustart Kultur, Berlin, GER
Project grant, Living Democracy, City of Nuremberg, GER
2021 Stipend, Foundation Kulturwerk, VG Bild-Kunst, Berlin, GER
Project grant, City of Nuremberg, GER
Project grant, City of Erlangen, GER
Project grant, Culture Foundation Erlangen, GER
Project grant, BBK, Neustart Kultur, Berlin, GER
2018 Petrohradská kolektiv, Artist Residency, Prague, CZE
2017 Studio Grant, Nuremberg, GER
2013 Stipend Freistaat Bayern, Munich, GER
Publications
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, München, GER, 2023
Profifoto, 01/23, Juechen, GER, 2023
Mind Over Matter, Femxphotographers.org, Hatje Cantz, GER, 2022
The Body Issue, Femalephotographers.org, Hatje Cantz, GER, 2020
Greatest Hits, collection catalogue, Kunststpalais, GER, 2017
Salamé magazine by Juergen Teller, Aïshti Foundation, LB, 2016
PARCO campagin, with m/m Paris and Juergen Teller, GER/FR/JP, 2016/2017
System Magazine, Issue 8 + Issue 3, UK, 2014/2016
Photonews Hamburg, GER, 09/2019
Vogue Germany, GER, 08/2019
Profifoto Nr. 9, GER, 09/2019
Coeval Magazine, USA, 2020
Top Magazin, GER, 2019
Kontext Wochenzeitung, GER, 01/2021
Teaching
2022 Educational measure, Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, Berlin, GER
2021 Educational measure, Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, Berlin, GER
Workshops
2025 Pipedreams & Lushlakes, Media Mediterranea, Pula, HR
2025 Audioreactive live visuals, Die Angewandte, Wien, AT
2024 Strike a pose!, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, GER
2023 Genre Photography, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, GER
2022 Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, GER
2021 Fotowerkstatt, C/O Berlin, GER
2017 Live Visuals, Kulturzentrum DESI, Nuremberg, GER
Solo / Duo Shows
2026 Bordbistro, Chambre Directe, St. Gallen, CH (upcoming)
2024 HOLZINGERurbat, Zukunftslabor, Kunstnacht Kempten, GER
2023 Mind Your Business, Kulturkiosk, Stuttgart, GER
Gathering of Myths and Muses, Galerie Klatovy, Klenová, CZ
2022 Das Archiv der süddeutschen Staatskunst, Kreisgalerie, Nuremberg, GER
Glass Fibre Roots, Space Between, Nuremberg, GER
2021 Now we have the Salad, Galerie Ladøns, Hamburg, GER
2019 Kraftakt, Galerie Elsa, Bielefeld, GER
2018 The Official David Hasselhoff World Fan Cruise, 123 Gallery, Prague, CZ
Start down, Gallery 207 / UMPRUM, Prague, CZ
2017 Edle Pfropfen, Holzingerurbat, Kunstverein, Erlangen, GER
2016 Holzingerurbat, Akademiegalerie, Nuremberg, GER
2015 Die Frau am Abgrund, Edel Extra e.V., Nuremberg, GER
Lectures
2025 Die Angewandte, Wien, AT
2023 Queer Curating / POSITION. Forum, Kunsthaus, Hamburg, GER
Women's History Months, PhotoPhlo, New York City, USA
Mind Over Matter, Salon der Fotografie, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, GER
2022 Keynote 2022, kunst galerie fürth, Fürth, GER
2021 The Body Issue, Kultur Kiosk, Stuttgart, GER
2020 Womxn in Photography with Anika Meier, Soho House, Berlin, GER (Covid19)
The Body Issue: Femalephotographers.org, SoHo House, Berlin, GER
The Body Issue: Femalephotographers.org, AdBK Nürnberg, GER
2018 Kulturladen, Kulturhauptstadt, Kulturrevolution?, Kulturzentrum Desi, Nuremberg, GER
Group Shows (selection)
2025 The artist is naked, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, GER
Karton Salon, Noho, Berlin, GER
2024 Last Exit, Villa Stuck, Munich, GER
Love yourself first, AFF Galerie, Berlin, GER
Love yourself first, ELSA, Bielefeld, GER
Love yourself first, Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, GER
Sellerie Weekend, Spoiler, Berlin, GER
2023 LANDschafftKUNST Biennale, Neuwerder, GER
als wäre ich du, Basis Projektraum, Frankfurt/Main, GER
2022 Expo2022, Spoiler, Berlin, GER
Soft Kills, Galeriegalaxieoff, Vienna, AT
Hoch-Zeit, Projektraum 145, Berlin, GER
Extended Bodies, MOM Art Space, Hamburg, GER
Artstadt, Hamburg, GER
Tegelmedia Speedlounge, Kraftwerk/Ohm, Berlin, GER
Pipsiwau, Kreisgalerie, Nuremberg, GER
2021 Les Boutographies, Espace le Mur Rouge, Montpellier, FR
Bei Langeweile öfter mal das Abc aufsagen, Galerie Krobath, Wien, AT
Chambre 07 Festival, Cinéma La Navire, Aubenas (Ardèche), FR
Mom, I am a rich man, Communal Gallery Treptow-Köpenick, Berlin, GER
Cultura de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, ES
2020 The Body Issue, Kultur Kiosk, Stuttgart, GER
2019 Bayerische Kunstförderpreise, Galerie der Künstler, Munich, GER
Taking patriarchy apART, Club Der Polnischen Versager, Berlin, GER
2017 Greatest Hits […], Kunstpalais, Erlangen, GER
Look At That Beauty, Auf AEG, Nuremberg, GER
Eine fremde und seltsame Welt, z-bau, Nuremberg, DE
HYGIENE, Edel Extra e.V., Nuremberg, DE
2015 To good to be true, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, GER
Angst, group show, Edel Extra e.V., Nuremberg, DE
2014 We’ve got the look - Juergen Teller and students, Akademiegalerie, Nuremberg, GER
A/V Performances (selection)
2024 Tag der Clubkultur, Award show, Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, GER
Nation of Gondwana, Grünefeld, GER
2023 Hoe_mies x Keep Hush x Tag der Clubkultur, Fitzroy, Berlin, GER
Chat With A DJ, Arte Concert, Berlin, GER
2022 Follow Up, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, GER
Glass Fibre Roots, Space Between, Nuremberg, GER
Gegen die Zeit, Fuchsbau Festival, Lehrte, GER
2021 Ping Pong Europa, Literaturhaus, Berlin, GER
2020 Spherea, Zeiss-Großplanetarium, Berlin, GER
2019 Museumsnacht Köln, Museum Schnütgen, Cologne, GER
Fuchsbau Festival, Lehrte, GER
2018 Blind Faith, Haus der Kunst, Munich, GER
2017 at.tension Festival, Laerz, GER
RUDE Festival, ACUD, Berlin, GER
2016 After Sun, Tafelhalle, Nuremberg, GER
2013 NICHTS, KunstKulturQuartier, Nuremberg, GER
NICHTS, Muffatwerke, Munich, GER