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 :
13052 publications

Paper presented in a Conference

2002

ANDREANI, F., J. -C. ANDREANI

Les techniques d’enquêtes expérientielles : vers une nouvelle génération de méthodologies qualitatives

in International Marketing Trends Conference, 2002, Paris, France

Paper presented in a Conference

2002

CARBONE, V.

Logistics in Europe: critical issues and operators' strategies

in Actes de la Conférence Européenne sur les Transports, 2002, Cambridge

Journal Article

2002

HOLWEG, M., J. MIEMCZYK

Logistics in the “three-day car” age: Assessing the responsiveness of vehicle distribution logistics in the UK

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT, 2002, vol. 32/10, pp. 829-850

Paper presented in a Conference

2002

FENDT, J.

M&A and Andragogy: Seeking Synergy in Two Core Drivers of Executives' Global Competitiveness

in Proceedings of Worldwide Comparative Education Forum on Economic Globalization and Education Reforms, Beijing Normal University, 2002, Beijing

Textbook

2002

GRUERE, J.-P., J. JABES, H. LAROCHE, S. MICHEL, N. AUBERT

Management

2002, PUF Fondamental, Paris, France

Book

2002

ROYAL, H.

Mariage, Pacs, Union libre : Les dispositions légales pour bien choisir

Verneuil, 2002

Journal Article

2002

JALLAT, F., A. J. KIMMEL

Marketing in culturally diverse environments: The case of Western Europe

BUSINESS HORIZONS, July 2002, pp. pp 24-32 9 p

Journal Article

2002

SCHMID, S.

Markteintritts- und Marktbearbeitungsstrategien internationaler Unternehmen

WISU : DAS WIRTSCHAFTSSTUDIUM, 2002, vol. Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. pp. 669-676 and p. 725

Chapter

2002

GUPTA, J., A. CHEVALIER

Mergers and Acquisitions in the European Banking Sector: The Case of BNP and Paribas

in New Trends in Banking Management., ZOPOUNIDIS C. (ed.), Springer, pp. pp 151-172 22 p, 2002

Journal Article

2002

NAULLEAU, G., E. ZILBERBERG

Méthode des cas : comment concilier pédagogie et TIC

REVUE FRANCOPHONE DE GESTION, 2002, pp. pp 18-27 10 p