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

2004

MATHIEU, C., J. CREEL, S. LEVASSEUR, T. DEBRAND, A.-G. PRIVAT, F. CHARPIN

Dossier : perspectives 2004 - 2005.

REVUE DE L'OFCE : OBSERVATIONS ET DIAGNOSTICS ECONOMIQUES, April 2004, vol. n° 89, pp. pp 1-307 307p

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

COEURDEROY, R.

Dynamique organisationnelle et diffusion du changement : analyse par modèle de survie de l'introduction d'un système de gestion intégré du travail

in Actes de la 13ème Conférence de l'Association Internationale de Management Stratégique, 2004, Le Havre

PhD Dissertation

2004

GABILLIET, P.

Dynamiques comportementales et conduites d'anticipation en environnement organisationnel

2004, CNAM, Paris, France

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

LEPORI, B., C. SUCCI

ELearning and the Governance of Higher Education in Continental Europe

in Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, 2004, Washington DC

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

LEPORI, B., S. REZZONICO, C. SUCCI

eLearning in Swiss Universitites. Recent Developments and Future Prospects

in Proceedings of the European Universites Information Systems congress (EUNIS), 2004, Lijubljana

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

PLIHON, V., Z. BOUFAÏDA, C.-F. DUCATEAU, Y. DJAGHLOUL

ELITX : Une méthode Orientée objet pour l’intégration de sources de données hétérogènes

in Procedings of CNRIUT 2004, 2004, Nice, France

Journal Article

2004

SANGSUE, J., K. R. SCHERER, U. SCHERER, V. TRAN, T. WRANIK

Emotions in everyday life: Probability of occurrence, risk factors, appraisal and reaction pattern

SOCIAL SCIENCE INFORMATION, December 2004, vol. vol. 43, issue 4, pp. pp 499-570 72 p

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

DELBARD, O.

Enjeux et perspectives du commerce équitable pour le développement durable de l'Afrique subsaharienne

in Actes du Colloque International `Développement durable : leçons et perspectives', 2004, Ouagadougou

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

PLIHON, V., D. ALBAN

Enseignement des ERP à l’Université : L’expérience de l’IUT de Paris

in Procedings of Colloque de l'AIM, Systèmes d'information: perspectives critiques, 2004, Evry, France

Paper presented in a Conference

2004

PLIHON, V., D. ALBAN

Enseignement des ERP à l’Université : L’expérience de l’IUT de Paris

in Procedings of Colloque National de Recherche en IUT, 2004, Nice, France