Patrick_Gyger_-_Utopiales_2015_-_E96A0784

Patrick J. Gyger (born 1971 in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

) is a Swiss historian and writer. His family left Brazil in 1979 and moved to

Rolle Rolle () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Rolle (district), Rolle until 2006, when it became part of the district of Nyon District, N ...

in Switzerland. He studied

medieval history In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

at the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) 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 Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

in 1989.

Career

From 1999 to 2010, Gyger was director of the '' Maison d'Ailleurs'' (''House of Elsewhere'') in

Yverdon-les-Bains Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Ancient Rome, Roman era) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It ...

(

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

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

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

, 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 (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

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 The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

appointed him

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

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, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

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

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

. ''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 () 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 became its first curator. Private funds st ...

MCBA, the

Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts The Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (, MUDAC) is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. See also * List of cultural property of national significance in Switzerland: Vaud * Applied arts The applied arts are all the ar ...

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

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...

(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 Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

(culture board), and the National Choreography Center in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') 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 Departments of France, department. Wi ...

Personal life

On New Year's Day 2011, he was married to Honor Harger at the

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers () is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The or ...

Town Hall in New Zealand. Harger later remarried. Gyger is the father to a daughter (b. 2016). 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 a vote of the participants of the previous event. The procedure is coordinated by the European Science Fiction Society. The fi ...

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