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

Journal Article

2005

STRAUSS-KAHN, V.

Firms' location Decision Across Asymetric Countries and Employment Inequality

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, February 2005, vol. 49(2), pp. 299-320

Book

2005

BITTERLICH, J.

France-Allemagne : mission impossible ? Comment relancer la construction européenne ?

Essais Doc., Paris, France, 2005

Journal Article

2005

PAYEN, L. -M.

Franchisé ou associé: comment financer son commerce

POINTS DE VENTE, 2005, vol.

Conference Proceedings

2005

MANCEAU, D., C. HALLIBURTON, E. TISSIER-DESBORDES, F. JACOB, A. CARU, B. COVA

From Ownership to Renting: a Multi-cultural Approach

in Proceedings of the Annual Conference, European Marketing Academy (EMAC), European Marketing Academy, 2005, Bocconi, Italy

Paper presented in a Conference

2005

ACQUIER, A., F. AGGERI

From stakeholder theory to stakeholder management: investigating the link between empirical practices and theoretical frameworks

in Proceedings of the International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, ISEOR, ADERSE, Academy of Management, 2005, Lyon, France

Journal Article

2005

BYRNE, J., J., L. CLARKE, M. VAN DER MEER

Gender and ethnic minority exclusion from skilled occupations in construction: a Western European comparison

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS, 2005, vol. 23 (December 2005), pp. pp, 1025-1034

Book

2005

MIKOL, A.

Gestion comptable et financière

Que sais-je ?, Paris, France, 2005

Chapter

2005

VASQUEZ-BRONFMAN, S.

Gestion del conocimiento

in La comunicacion empresarial y la gestion de los intangibles en Espana y Latinoamérica., VILLAFANE J. (ed.), Piramide, pp. pp 13-30 18 p, 2005

Paper presented in a Conference

2005

BEN ABDELKADER, F.

Gouvernance des entreprises et des Etats au Maghreb, Approche comparative avec les PECO

in Procedings of colloque de clôture du programme de recherche : Gouvernance et culture d'entreprise au Maghreb, Acteurs, Pouvoirs et Représentations, 2005, Tunis, Tunisia

Conference Proceedings

2005

AZHAR ARNAL, J., J.-P. GALAVIELLE

Gouvernance et responsabilité : Quelle compatibilité ?

in Procedings of 3 eme Congrès de L’ADERSE, ADERSE, 2005, Lyon, France