TED Community » Patrick Gyger

About Me

I am a Swiss historian and writer. Currently, I am the director of the lieu unique, national center for contemporary arts in Nantes (www.lelieuunique.com), a leading pluridisciplinary venue for theater, dance, visuals arts, music and literature.
From 1999 to 2011, I was the director of "Maison d’Ailleurs" in Switzerland (www.ailleurs.ch), a museum housing one of the world’s largest collections of Science Fiction and Utopia. As such, I have put up more than thirty exhibitions on the main topics or artists of the field and published extensively. One of my recent researchs has resulted in a book on flyings cars in fact and fiction (Haynes, 2011). In October 2008, I opened Espace Jules Verne, a new permanent wing of Maison d'Ailleurs devoted to Extraordinary Journeys.
I also served as artistic director of the "Utopiales" Festival in France (www.utopiales.org), from 2001 to 2005.