Patrick Gyger Explained

Patrick J. Gyger (born 1971 in São Paulo) 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 in 1989.[1]

Career

From 1999 to 2010, Gyger was director of the Maison d'Ailleurs (House of Elsewhere) in Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland), a museum housing one of the world's largest collections of literature relating to science fiction, utopia, and extraordinary journeys. In 2008, Gyger opened the Espace Jules Verne, a wing of Maison d'Ailleurs dedicated to Jules Verne. This extension also houses a science fiction pulps collection.[2] 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).[3] [4] Patrick Gyger was artistic director of the annual Utopiales International Science Fiction Festival in Nantes 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.[5]

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.[6] Gyger stated that the concept of utopia 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 in London.[7] [8]

Since January 2021, Patrick Gyger acts as general director of the Plateforme 10 foundation in Lausanne. Plateforme 10's main mission is to manage and foster three cantonal museums, the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts MCBA, the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, and Photo Elysée.[9] Gyger is also a board member for several organizations, including École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Pavilions, a venue for art and science in society), CERN (culture board), and the National Choreography Center in La Rochelle.[10]

Personal life

On New Year's Day 2011, he was married to Honor Harger at the Port Chalmers Town Hall in New Zealand.[11] Harger later remarried.[12] Gyger is the father to a daughter (b. 2016).[13] After many years abroad, Gyger moved to Lausanne in January 2021.[14]

Awards

Bibliography

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2010-04-20 . Superhéros, fusées et îles secrètes . 2022-09-17 . L'Hebdo . https://web.archive.org/web/20100420043744/http://www.hebdo.ch/superheacuteros_fuseacutees_et_icircles_secregravetes_21370_.html . 20 April 2010 . dead.
  2. Web site: Jules Verne Space — The Maison d'Ailleurs . 2022-09-16 . www.ailleurs.ch.
  3. Web site: The ITSF Project. European Space Agency. https://web.archive.org/web/20110912013836/http://www.itsf.org/index.php?PAGE=project%2Findex.html. 2011-09-12. Web site: Contact the ITSF Project. European Space Agency. https://web.archive.org/web/20110912013819/http://www.itsf.org/index.php?PAGE=contact%2Findex.html. 2011-09-12.
  4. Web site: Mit kreativen Science-Fiction-Technologien ins All . 2022-09-16 . www.esa.int . en.
  5. Web site: Les Utopiales, Festival internationalde Science-Fiction . 2022-09-17 . Les Utopiales . fr-FR.
  6. Web site: Le lieu unique . 2022-09-17 . Le lieu unique . en-GB.
  7. Web site: Into the Unknown Barbican . 2022-09-16 . www.barbican.org.uk . en.
  8. Web site: 2017-06-18 . Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction review – almost all non-human life is here . 2022-09-16 . the Guardian . en.
  9. Web site: 2022-06-02 . About - plateforme10 – plateforme10 . 2022-09-16 . plateforme10.ch . en-US.
  10. Web site: Linkedin profile .
  11. Web site: Gibb . John . 2010-12-29 . Living apart, staying together . 2022-09-17 . Otago Daily Times Online News . en.
  12. Web site: glitteringcarousel . 2017-12-23 . A Wedding that combines Nature . Arts . Science . 2023-01-22 . glitteringcarousel . en.
  13. Web site: Les utopies extraordinaires de l'homme qui venait d'ailleurs . 2023-01-22 . 24 heures . fr.
  14. Web site: 2021-12-08 . My cultural city – Lausanne . 2022-09-17 . Apollo Magazine . en-US.
  15. Web site: Into The Unknown Exhibition Catalogue . 2022-09-16 . Barbican Shop.