In Focus: Interview with Markus Pargfrieder, CEO at Responsive Spaces

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Markus Pargfrieder

Markus is part of the digital and creative industry for almost 20 years. The majority of those years he spent at Netural, one of the leading digital agencies in Austria. After more than 5 years as Head of Multimedia Lab, Netural and he decided to co-found Responsive Spaces and to take all know-how and experience and focus it towards the edge between analog places and digital worlds. Therefore, exhibitions, tradeshows and events are their natural habitat, as well as any other scenario, where unique space is dedicated to a purpose and a story or message. More often than not, those stories can be propelled through usage of the right dose of technology, preferably in an interactive and immersive way.

Muse Awards | Responsive Spaces
Muse Awards | Responsive Spaces

Interview with the 2018 Muse Creative Awards Winner - Markus Pargfrieder

1Congratulations! As the winner of the 2018 Muse Creative Awards, what does winning this award mean to you and your team?
Thank you, it means really a lot to us. As a young company, trying to make a name for itself, that kind of international recognition acknowledges our way of approaching our clients and the projects that we realize together with them. It sometimes takes a big leap of faith from our clients to dare to go new ways in terms of delivering their messages. Once our clients put that faith in us, an award like the Muse Creative Award not just rewards the team of Responsive Spaces but very much the client as well.
2Where do you see the evolution of creative industry going over the next 5-10 years?
Judging the development of the last 5-10 years and the accelerating nature of things, this is really tough to answer. I see a lot of interdisciplinarity. The true potential of things will lie in combining strengths and possibilities of different expertise and different industries and their cultures.
3Who has inspired you in your life and why?
I played basketball professionally for a good portion of my life. Of course I had some idols, players I tried to embody, but the main inspiration I drew from them is independent from any particular player. "You can never do it alone, all the little things count and hard work pays off, if you believe in your team and yourself!"
4What makes your country specifically, unique in the creative industry?
I´d like to answer this question focusing on the digital aspects of the creative industry. Our office is located in Linz, home of the annual Ars Electronica Festival and several universities that go deep on different aspects of technology and creativity. Many companies in Austria are still hesitant in fully committing to the possibilities the digital worlds offer. By no means that has to lead to abandoning any analog activities, if they have their legitimation. Nevertheless, the range of possibilities is broader than ever. Why not use it?
5If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering a career in creative industry, what would it be?
Fear nothing, try everything and love what you do. Great projects take time and energy and are not always happening between 9 and 5. If it doesn´t feel like work to you and you expose yourself to the right environment, things become possible that will fulfill and surprise you.
6Tell us something you have never told anyone else.
Honestly, there is not much that my team at Responsive Spaces doesn´t know about myself. Creativity demands openness. That little rest of personal secrets are in good hands with my wife ;)
7Finally, what is your key to success
Every project bares its own challenges. The first one is always the same. Get rid of all distractions, find the story and focus on it. The more you can free yourself of any sorts of boundaries for this first step, the better. Later, there will be time and space for decisions regarding technology and budget. At Responsive Spaces we challenge ourselves quite hard in keeping this order. Once there is a good story, we have the strong trust, that there will be some sort of technology or combinations of such, to lift this story to great heights.

Winning Entries

Interactive Lightspace

Muse Awards | Responsive Spaces
Light is a fundamental part of ZKW Group as specialist for automotive lighting systems... (read more)
Responsive Spaces

Responsive Spaces


Responsive Spaces is working at the intersection of technology and design, offering an integrated view on digital media system, design and experience. We are specialists for innovative and captivating media solutions with a strong focus on realtime and collaborative systems, in virtual as well as in real spaces. Responsive Spaces enables spatial installations to deliver interactive and immersive storytelling in brand and product communication by utilizing any kind of digital technology.

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