Agence 5970 » Frank Dufour

Current
Professor Emeritus : The University of Texas at Dallas | Arts, Technology & Emerging Communication

International Continuing Education & Training Consultant

Affiliations : Co-Founder of LabSynthE, Laboratory for Synthetic & Experimental Poetry, American Society for Acoustic Ecology, Ear to the Earth Network of Musicians, International Society for the Study of Time, ArtSciLab at The University of Texas at Dallas, Scic.Lab Mediterrannée, Université Cote d’Azur

Frank Dufour was born and educated in France, with a PhD, from the University of Paris 8, France and moved to the United States in 2005 to join The University of Texas at Dallas. He has a vast professional experience within the Industry of sound engineering, beginning as a sound technician, at the Archives of the French National Radio for nine years, from 1983 to 1992. In this capacity, he was in charge of the restoration of numerous historical recordings. As of 2020, he returned to France where he is continuing active research in education.

In 1992, Frank founded one of the first all-digital recording studios in France, specialised in digital sound restoration for audio publications and sound design for animation movies and video productions. The studio created the sound effects for the TV series, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Prince Valliant, among other projects.

As a Multimedia Designer, he was one of the three authors of the first hypermedia interactive narrative, entitled, Sale Temps; winning multiple awards and recognition. In addition, Frank has authored numerous international interactive artistic publications.

Frank Dufour’s professional activities as a sound designer and multimedia designer have always been coupled with teaching activities. His first position was at the University of Paris V, René Descartes from 1985-1996, where he taught the History of Audiovisual Technologies. He has also taught at the Universities of Paris 13-Villetaneuse and Paris 8-Saint-Denis, and at the University du Sud Toulon Var, as an Assistant Professor, teaching Digital Sound Design and Hypermedia Design, and more recently, Frank spent 14 years as tenured Professor and now Emeritus Professor at The University of Texas at Dallas. He is currently collaborating with The Université Cote d’Azur in France and consulting for continuing education and program architecture.

Frank is also co-founder of Agence5970, an independent laboratory dedicated to conceptual art exploring ideas emerging at the conjunction of perception and representation. Within this practice, Time and memory become structural supports of expression. Composed of the artist duo Frank Dufour & Lee Dufour, Agence5970 exists as a creative think-tank producing artworks and installations as well as projects in the domains of research, consulting, publishing, and collaborative programming.