Mads Hobye (1980), PhD, is an associate professor at Roskilde University (DK) within the Department of People and Technology. He researches interactive digital materiality as a hybrid between physical material and digital technology. It is research in the potential of aesthetic use of technology and how to democratise technology ownership through frameworks, open knowledge-sharing and digital fabrication as a maker mindset. The work has been published internationally and applied in practice through co-founding illutron (a collaborative, interactive art collective in CPH) and as artworks presented at international museums, galleries, and festivals. 

His interest is the relationship between physical digital technology and human beings. Through computational logic, sensors, and expressions, the technology resonates with participants, both in their relation to the work itself and just as much in the interpersonal experiences among themselves - in the situated context.

In 2004, he co-founded Illutron, which resides on a large-scale industrial barge in Copenhagen Harbor. Its purpose is to hold space for artists to work with technology, biology, and scrap materials in an artistic manner free from larger capitalist justifications. The collective is run as a non-profit organization governed by its active members.


Follow on @madshobye & email at mads@hobye.dk

Singing plant at the Danish National Gallery, DK 2018.

Exhibitions / Performances

2023, Roskilde Light Festival, DK, Orb Probe

2022, Piksel, No, MemoryMechanics **

2022, Nordic forum for Dance Research, DK, MemoryMechanics **

2022, Emideks, RUC, DK, Moving Stories, Embodied Empathy

2022, S12 Gallery, NO, Sensing presence (Solo Exhibition)

2021: Haut - Works in progress, DK, MemoryMechanics **

2021: Nova Festival, RO, MemoryMechanics **

2021: Click AI Days, DK, MemoryMechanics **

2021: Easter Ex., KP21-digital, DK, Perception is participation

2020: Ars Electronica, Online, MemoryMechanics **

2020: Musicon, DK, Inner Glow *

2020: Catch, DK, Embodied Companion

2020: Musicon, DK, Embryo *

2020: Click festival, DK,  Memory Mechanics **

2019: Borderland, DK, The Orb Probe*

2018: Roskilde Light Festival, DK, Embryo*

2018: The Danish National Gallery, DK, The singing plant *

2018: Ebeltoft Glass Museum, DK, Dynamic transparencies ***

2018: CPH stage, DK, Mediated pulse in Punchline

2017: Finland Glass museum, FI, Dynamic transparencies ***

2017: Mod,Strøm, DK, Life Nerve

2017: The Glass Factory, SE, Dynamic transparencies ***

2017: Borderland, DK, Geometric masculinity

2017: Borderland, DK, Spatial projections *

2017: Royal Danish Theatre, DK; CPH stage Mediated Pulse

2016: Skanderborg, DK, Dream Forest *

2016: Borderland, DK, Spatial projections *

2015: Critical IXD, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Zagreb, Croatia, Aural Fixations

2015: Borderland, DK, Calling Home

2015: Roskilde Festival, DK, Color entrance *

2014: Technical Museum, DK, Humanizing robots *

2013: Royal Danish Theatre, DK, In case of emotions

2012: CHI interactive, DK, The Touchbox

2012: Odense Main Street, DK, Hydraphonia *

2011: Wired Mind, DK, Reversed Megaphone

2011: Emerge And See conference, DE, The Mediated Body

2011: Click Festival, DK, Reversed Megaphone

2010: Burning Man, US, Syzygryd and Mediated Bodysuit *

2010: Roskilde Festival, DK, Electrolumen *

2009: CPH:DOX, DK, Barcode Beats *

2009: Kunsthallen Brandts, DK, N7331227 *

2008: Inkunst Malmø, SE, Ladies and mens room mixup *

2008: Roskilde Festival, DK, Explosion Village *

2008: Ørestaden, DK, CPHAdd, 8-bit Traffic *

2008: Robots at Play, DK, Singing plant

2007: Botanical Garden, DK, Singing plant *

2007: Charlottenborg Spring Ex., DK, The Machines are having fun

2007: Roskilde Festival, DK, Medusae Nilfisk *

2005: Tingbæk Kalkminer, DK, Singing plant

2005: Half Machine, DK, Clouds in passing

2004: Half Machine, DK, Singing plant

2004: Roskilde Festival, DK, Singing Plant

* Projects made in collaboration with and/or members of illutron

** Exhibitions made as a part of MemoryMechanics

*** Exhibitions made as a part of Dynamic Transparencies

Selected academic writing 

(find more on Scholar)

Touching a stranger: Designing for engaging experience in embodied interaction

Hobye M. & Löwgren J. (2011), International Journal of Design 5, 3.


Designing for homo explorens

Hobye, M (2014). PhD Dissertation, Malmø University.

Playing with Fire: Collaborating through Digital Sketching in a Creative Community

Making Futures: Marginal Notes on Innovation, Design, and Democracy, Edited by: Ehn P., Nilsson, M. E. and Topgaard R., MIT Press, (November 2014).

Creating synergies between traditional crafts and Fablab Making

Padfield N., Hobye M., Haldrup M., Ranten M., Knight J., (2018), Fablearn EU.

Behavioral complexity as a computational material strategy

Hobye M. & Ranten  M. (2019) International Journal of Design 13, 2: 39–53.


The bizarre bazaar: FabLabs as hybrid hubs

Haldrup M., Hobye M., & Padfield P. (2017) CoDesign 14, 4: 1–16.


Other engagements, collaborations, repositories etc.

Art-based residencies / workshops

2022: S12 Gallery, Bergen, NO

2018: Glass Museum Ebeltoft, DK

2017: The Glass Factory, Boda, Sweden

2012: Instructables, San Francisco, USA

Co-founder/-organizer of

2022->: Digital Transformation (Digital Design): master at RUC: co-founder

2021->: Grasp Festival: Program director for RUC contrib.

2020->: Roskilde Festival Innovation Project with RUC

2011->: Copenhagen Scandal Central: co-founder

2007->: illutron: co-founder

2003-2007: Capteco A/S: co-founder

1998-2003: Inventit: founder

Online repositories

Multiple online repositories of documentation have been done through the years. The following are places to look to find sources codes, videos etc.:

Instagram: Instagram is the best place to follow me and my work

RUC Profile: My formal research profile at Roskilde University

Scholar: Google scholar gives the best current overview of publications

learn.hobye.dk: My learn site is where I organize and share examples of digital fabrication and prototyping for students. Loads of readymade code snippets and p5js sketches can be found there

FablabRuc: The Fablab RUC website is filled with projects and experiments done by/with me

illutron: Most large-scale installations presented here have been done as a part of illutron

Instructables: During my artists in residency at Instructables, I made multiple detailed guides around sound art

Vimeo: Many video documentations of installations can be found on Vimeo

Github/Hobye: My online git repository with different projects

Github/illutron: illutrons online git repository

Mediated Pulse exhibitioned at The Glass Factory, 2017.