Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette Art Thinking

See this page in
French[FR]

 



The Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette is all about bringing together artists and entrepreneurs, linking art with business in a new way.

It supports creative practices by connecting artists with entrepreneurs, businesses with cultural institutions, and artistic creation with business strategy. It encourages everyone to embrace the "improbable" to think like creators. Through a unique method called "Art Thinking," developed at ESCP, the Galeries Lafayette group and ESCP offer a way to support, encourage, and spread the act of creation.

 

Guillaume Houzé, Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette

A few words from
Guillaume Houzé
Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette group

“The Improbable Chair is all about bringing together artists and entrepreneurs, linking art with business in a new way. It supports creative practices by connecting artists with entrepreneurs, businesses with cultural institutions, and artistic creation with business strategy. It encourages everyone to embrace the ‘improbable’ to think like creators. Through a unique method called ‘Art Thinking’, developed at ESCP, the Galeries Lafayette group and ESCP offer a way to support, encourage, and spread the act of creation.”

Guillaume Houzé, Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette group Photo Credit: ©Lucasziwel

Sylvain Bureau, Scientific Director

A few words from
Sylvain Bureau
Professor at ESCP Business School
Scientific Director of the Improbable Chair

“Our initial belief was simple: to make creation accessible to as many people as possible. To achieve this, we developed a method called Art Thinking, which characterises how artists, entrepreneurs, and scientists go through similar steps in the creative process, such as gift-giving, deviating, destroying and drifting. For 15 years, our Art-Thinking seminars have trained thousands of students, entrepreneurs, managers, and researchers across a dozen countries and twenty universities and schools. Partnering with Galeries Lafayette group, a company with a strong entrepreneurial DNA, our chair combines theory and practice to amplify this approach and promote creators and creation in the broadest sense.”

Professor Sylvain Bureau, Scientific Director of the Improbable Chair

Objectives

The Chair has two major complementary goals:

  • Support scientific research to better understand creative practices
  • Teach the Art Thinking method and spread the Improbable pedagogy worldwide

Art Thinking not only helps participants unleash their innate creative potential; it also promotes collaboration, listening, leadership, negotiation, and constructive dialogue. Participants learn to question themselves, leverage failure, establish partnerships, and develop an agile approach to uncertainty.

Three areas of activity

Research and development

  • Scientific publications
  • Doctoral theses and final dissertations
  • Improbable Siesta: seminar bringing together researchers, artists, and experts in creation
Teaching

  • Spreading the Improbable method at ESCP and beyond
  • Designing initial training in Art Thinking
  • Training Art Thinking instructors
Events

  • Conferences and workshops on Art Thinking
  • Exhibitions and Improbable openings
  • Improbable residencies (art­ist/sci­en­tist/­en­tre­pre­neur triads)

“This Chair is the story of an encounter between visionary creators who understood early on how future generations of students and entrepreneurs would need artistic and creative practices to prepare for the world of tomorrow. Through this collaboration, ESCP is grateful to the Galeries Lafayette group for opening up new playgrounds for unprecedented and improbable creations!”

Pascale Pernet, Director of chairs and corporate sponsorship
ppernet@escp.eu

Focus on...

Group photo at the inauguration of the Improbable chair

Article

When Art meets Entrepreneurship

On Tuesday, 19th March 2024, Léon Laulusa, Dean and Executive President of ESCP, Jean-Stéphane Arcis, President of the ESCP Foundation, Philippe Houzé, Chairman of the Management Board of the Galeries Lafayette group, and Guillaume Houzé, Brand and Communications Director, Galeries Lafayette group, signed the first Chair dedicated to artistic and entrepreneurial creation.

Display :
13028 publications

Journal Article

2026

GRAZIOLI, F., A. PRENCIPE

Domestic primary dealers’ disclosure and peer banks’ asset allocation decisions: Evidence from sovereign debt classification

JOURNAL OF BANKING AND FINANCE, 2026, vol. 185

ESCP Impact Papers

2026

BAUDOIN, L., C. DOCHE

Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs: Understanding biophysical resources to secure sustained performance

2026, ESCP Impact Papers

Journal Article

2026

HAMEDUDDIN, T., K. ALFES, A. RITZ

Driving employee engagement across sectors: current evidence and an agenda for future research

Forthcoming ASIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Journal Article

2026

MAGRIZOS, S., M. KASTANAKIS, K. KAMPOURI, M. CHRISTOFI

Drunk Shopping Online: A Conceptual Framework of Impaired Consumer Decision-Making and Implications for Ethical Marketing

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS, 2026

Journal Article

2026

BOUISSE-BLOIGU, I., P. CHAMAKIOTIS

Dual-mode e-Leadership: Styles and Responsibilities in Hybrid Virtual Teams

INFORMATION SYSTEMS PRACTICE JOURNAL, 2026, vol. 1, pp. 1–21

Journal Article

2026

SUCCI, C., M. MURATBEKOVA-TOURON, D. BONNETON, A. TORDIGLIONE

Duty to Remember: Craft Firms as Custodians of Heritage Craft Persistence

Forthcoming ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES

Contribution on blogs and Social Networks

2026

CHAMAKIOTIS, P., W. VAN ZOONEN, J. Y.-H. LEE

Email boundaries don’t work. Try this instead

2026, Fast Company

ESCP Impact Papers

2026

NAWROT, W., T. WALKOWICZ

Emergency preparedness in governance under expanding structural risks: Protecting society from high-impact disruptions

2026, ESCP Impact Papers

Journal Article

2026

PAUNOVA, M., S. SVEJENOVA

Enacting Responsible Leadership Through Collective Care Practices

ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT PROCEEDINGS, 2026, vol. 2026, no. 1

Journal Article

2026

ROJAS-GAVIRIA, P., C. PREECE, E. SURMAN

Encountering Social Inequalities through Productive Unsettling

Forthcoming SOCIOLOGY