Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette Art Thinking

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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 :
13052 publications

Published Case Study

2006

LAROCHE, H., P. MOREL

Le changement organisationnel de VADI

2006, Centrale de Cas et de Médias Pédagogiques, France

Journal Article

2006

J.-M. DANIEL

Le Chantier des réformes

SOCIETAL, 1st quarter 2006, pp. pp 49-101 53p

Conference Proceedings

2006

COLLA, E.

Le contrôle de la concurrence et des concentrations dans la distribution en Europe : une approche comparative 

in 5th International Marketing Trends Conference, Università Ca' Foscari, 2006, Venise, Italy

Chapter

2006

BOUDES, T.

Le déroulement d'un projet envisagé comme un récit d'aventure

in De nouvelles figures du projet en management., GERMAIN O. (ed.), Management et Société, pp. pp 37-52 26 p, 2006

Journal Article

2006

DAMBRIN, C., C. LAMBERT

Le deuxième sexe dans la profession comptable - Réflexions théoriques et méthodes

COMPTABILITE CONTROLE AUDIT, October 2006, vol. n° thématique, pp. pp 101-138

Journal Article

2006

DAMBRIN, C., C. LAMBERT

Le deuxième sexe dans la profession comptable, réflexions théoriques et méthodologiques

COMPTABILITE CONTROLE AUDIT, October 2006, vol. Special Issue, pp. pp. 101-138 38 p.

Journal Article

2006

BEN ABDELKADER, F., D. LABARONNE

Le développement comme liberté : analyse comparative MENA-PECO

REVUE D'ETUDES COMPARATIVES EST-OUEST, 2006, vol. Vol 37 (1), pp. 63-96

Journal Article

2006

AMINE, A., M. DUPUIS, C. OBADIA, N. PRIME

Le Développement de la distribution dans les économies émergentes : le cas du Liban

ENTREPRENDRE ET DIRIGER, February 2006, vol. 1, pp. 4-17

Chapter

2006

DELBARD, O.

Le développement durable à l'épreuve de la mondialisation

in La mondialisation et ses effets : nouveaux débats., PINOT DE VILLECHENON F. (ed.), L'Harmattan, pp. pp 271-283 13 p, 2006

Published Case Study

2006

DESLANDES, G., R. CLAVERIE

Le Journal de la Logistique

2006, Centrale de Cas et de Médias Pédagogiques, France