Patrick_Gyger_-_Utopiales_2015_-_E96A0784

Patrick J. Gyger (born 1971 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

) is a Swiss historian and writer. His family left Brazil in 1979 and moved to Rolle in Switzerland. He studied medieval history at the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

in 1989.

Career

From 1999 to 2010, Gyger was director of the ''

Maison d'Ailleurs The Maison d'Ailleurs (translated as "House of Elsewhere") is a museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys in Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland). It is a non-profit foundation functioning both as a public museum and a specialized re ...

'' (''House of Elsewhere'') in

Yverdon-les-Bains Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , was ...

(

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

), a museum housing one of the world's largest collections of literature relating to

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

, and extraordinary journeys. In 2008, Gyger opened the ''Espace Jules Verne'', a wing of Maison d'Ailleurs dedicated to

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

. This extension also houses a science fiction pulps collection. Early 21st Century, along with Arthur Woods of O.U.R.S., Gyger was co-manager of the project ''Innovative Technologies in Science Fiction for Space Applications'' ''ITSF'', a study conducted by The European Space Agency (ESA). Patrick Gyger was artistic director of the annual Utopiales International Science Fiction Festival in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

from 2001 to 2005. Utopiales is the largest European event for science fiction. Writers such as Samuel R. Delany, Brian Aldiss, James Morrow, K.W. Jeter, David Brin, Robert Holdstock, Christopher Priest, Terry Bisson, Norman Spinrad. Jeffrey Ford, Lucius Shepard. In January 2011, Gyger was appointed director of le lieu unique in Nantes, a venue dedicated to contemporary and performing arts. It houses several exhibition and performance spaces, a restaurant, a bookstore, a hammam, a bar/club, a kindergarten, etc. Gyger stated that the concept of

was a guideline of his programme. 2014, the Swiss Federal Council appointed him Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Nantes. In 2017, Gyger curated the touring festival-style exhibition ''Into the Unknown: a Journey through Science Fiction,'' produced by the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

in London. Since January 2021, Patrick Gyger acts as general director of the ''Plateforme 10'' foundation in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

. ''Plateforme 10'''s main mission is to manage and foster three cantonal museums, the

Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts The Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts (french: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, MCBA) is an art museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Collection The museum was created by private initiative in 1841, with funds provided by the artist Marc-Louis Arlaud, who ...

MCBA, the

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts The Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (French: ''Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains'', MUDAC) is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. See also * List of cultural property of national significance in Switzerland: ...

, and Photo Elysée. Gyger is also a board member for several organizations, including

École_Polytechnique_Fédérale_de_Lausanne École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(EPFL Pavilions, a venue for art and science in society),

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

(culture board), and the National Choreography Center in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

Personal life

On New Year's Day 2011, he was married to Honor Harger at the Port Chalmers Town Hall in New Zealand. Harger later remarried. Gyger is the father to a daughter (b. 2016) with Dr. Anaïs Rolez. After many years abroad, Gyger moved to

in January 2021.

Awards

* As the director of the museum, Gyger was Guest of Honour at

Eurocon Eurocon is an annual science fiction convention held in Europe. The organising committee of each Eurocon is selected by vote of the participants of the previous event. The procedure is coordinated by the European Science Fiction Society. The first ...

2004. * Gyger was nominated as one of the 100 most influential people in Western Switzerland (L'Hebdo, 2006) * Gyger received the "Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire" in France twice (2001 and 2010) for his work at Maison d'Ailleurs. * In 2017, Gyger was made a Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters (France)

Bibliography

* * * * * *Patrick Gyger, ''Into the Unknown. A Journey Through Science Fiction'', exhinition catalgoue, Barbican London, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyger, Patrick Science fiction academics 1971 births Living people 21st-century Swiss historians 20th-century Swiss historians