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

Studies and Reports commissioned by Companies and Research Agencies

2000

CARBONE, V.

I profili professionali nel trasporto marittimo: un'analisi delle competenze esistenti

2000

Journal Article

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SOLERO, M.

Il caso Mentadent chewing gum

in casi ed esperienze di marketing., Giappichelli, 2000

Paper presented in a Conference

2000

DE PEDYS, V.

Il rapporto con la clientela e le politiche di marketing nella costituzione di un SSO

in Atti della Conferenza dell'Associazione Bancaria Italiana (ABI), 2000, Milano

Book

2000

SPIESER, P.

Information économique et marchés financiers

Gestion, Paris, France, 2000

Chapter

2000

LAROCHE, H.

Information, technologie et domination

in L'Art du Management de l'Information., MARCHAND D. A., DAVENPORT T. H. (eds), Financial Times / Village Mondial, pp. pp 321-324 4 p, 2000

Edited Book / Textbook

2000

KOEN, M., J. LE VOURC'H, H. VAN GREUNING

International accounting standards

World Bank, Paris, France, 2000

Journal Article

2000

TREPO, G., L. CADIN

Internationalisation de la gestion des ressources humaines ? 1ère partie : la GRH et son environnement institutionnel.

REVUE DE GESTION DES RESSOURCES HUMAINES, October 2000, pp. pp. 1-96 95 p.

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2000

JACQUOT, T., S. POINT, J. JAUSSAUD, J. SCHAAPER, Z.-Y. ZHANG, D. SHERERD, J. PRINGLE, F. BOURNOIS, C. DEFEUX, C.-H. BESSEYRE DES HORTS

Internationalisation de la gestion des ressources humaines ? 2ème partie : quelques nouveaux modèles de GRH révélés par des travaux comparatifs.

REVUE DE GESTION DES RESSOURCES HUMAINES, November 2000, pp. pp 98-171 73p et n° 37

Journal Article

2000

CADIN, L., G. TREPO

Internationalisation de la gestion des ressources humaines ? 2ème partie : Quelques nouveaux modèles de GRH révélés par les travaux comparatifs

REVUE DE GESTION DES RESSOURCES HUMAINES, October 2000, pp. pp 98-158 60 p

Paper presented in a Conference

2000

COEURDEROY, R.

Internationalisation des start-ups et environnements institutionnels

in Actes de la 11ème Conférence de l'Association Internationale de Management Stratégique, 2000, Paris, France