Patrick J. Gyger is a Swiss historian and writer. In the 1990s he specialised in medieval studies and in 1998 published the book, L'Épée Et La Corde: Criminalité Et Justice À Fribourg (1475-1505) on the topic of crime and justice. One of Gyger's recent publications is the history of the flying car

Flying car

A flying car or roadable aircraft is an aircraft that can also travel along roads. All the working examples have required some manual or automated process of conversion between the two modes of operation....

, with Les voitures volantes, Souvenirs d'un futur rêvé (2005). From 1999 to 2010, he was the director of Maison d'Ailleurs

Maison d'Ailleurs

The Maison d'Ailleurs , is a museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys in Yverdon-les-Bains...

, museum of utopia in Switzerland. In late 2010, Gyger was appointed as the director of Le Lieu unique

Le Lieu unique

The lieu unique is the national center for contemporary arts in Nantes, France. Opened on January 1, 2000, it is housed in a former biscuit factory at the center of the city...

, French national cultural center in Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

.

Maison d’Ailleurs

Since 1999, he has been the director of Maison d'Ailleurs

Maison d'Ailleurs

The Maison d'Ailleurs , is a museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys in Yverdon-les-Bains...

 (translated as "House of Elsewhere"). It is a museum housing one of the world's largest collections of literature relating to science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, utopia

Utopia

Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...

, and extraordinary journeys. Maison d’Ailleurs is located in Yverdon-les-Bains

Yverdon-les-Bains

Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...

, Switzerland. It was founded by the French encyclopedist Pierre Versins in 1976 and now owns over 90,000 books and thousands of pulp magazines, as well as many other items related to science fiction and its imagery. It is also a gallery showing temporary exhibitions exploring the main themes of the field.
In 2008, Gyger opened the "Espace Jules Verne", a wing of Maison d'Ailleurs dedicated to Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...

 and extraordinary journeys.This extension also houses a very important science fiction pulps collection.
In 2009, Patrick Gyger was a keynote speaker at the Lift Conference

Lift Conference

Lift is a series of events designed to inspire and connect individuals exploring the social impact of new technologies. Each Lift conference is a three-day event consisting of talks, workshops, interactive art, and discussions on understanding and anticipating the most important social changes, as...

 in Geneva.

Space

In the early part of the 21st Century, Gyger was one of the co-managers (along with Arthur Woods) of European Space Agency's ITSF study – Innovative Technologies from Science Fiction for Space Applications – a research and educational project looking into science fiction to find ideas for space engineers.

Utopiales

Patrick Gyger was artistic director of the Utopiales

Utopiales

Utopiales is an annual international science fiction festival held in Nantes, France, probably the largest European event for the field. It covers science fiction and fantasy literature, film, fine arts, comics, role-playing games, and animation, from a distinctly European point of view...

 International Science Fiction Festival International in Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

, France from 2001 to 2005. Utopiales is the largest European event for science fiction. Held yearly, it reaches a wide public with a program that has involved the participation of 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. It also has art exhibitions and a lively film screening programme.

Awards

• As the director of the museum, Gyger was Guest of Honour at Eurocon
  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 Eurocon was held in Trieste, Italy, in 1972. Unlike...
  
  2004.
• Gyger was ominated 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.

External links

• http://www.ailleurs.ch/ Maison d’Ailleurs
• http://www.utopiales.org Utopiales
• http://www.itsf.org/ Innovative Technologies from Science Fiction for Space Applications (ITSF)