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

Chapter

1999

SAUSSOIS, J.-M., E. A. ET ALII

Les théories managériales servent-elles à quelque chose ?

in Le management aujourd'hui : théories et pratiques, actes de forum., Demos, pp. pp 130-137 8 p, 1999

Journal Article

1999

LADO COUSTE, N.

Los componentes de la orientación al mercado : un estudio exploratorio en el mercado del seguro de Europa y Estados Unidos

INVESTIGACIONES EUROPEAS DE DIRECCION Y ECONOMIA DE LA EMPRESA, 1999, pp. pp. 95-106 12 p.

Conference Proceedings

1999

KIMMEL, A. J., E. TISSIER-DESBORDES

Males, masculinity, and consumption: An exploratory investigation

in Proceedings of European Advances in Consumer Research, European Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 4, 1999, xx, Aruba

Paper presented in a Conference

1999

TISSIER-DESBORDES, E., A. J. KIMMEL

Males, masculinity, and consumption: An exploratory investigation

in European Advances in Consumer Research, Proceedings of 4th European Conference of the Association for Consumer Research, 1999, Provo

Textbook

1999

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

Management

1999, PUF Fondamental, Paris, France

Journal Article

1999

SAUSSOIS, J.-M.

Management : les constructeurs. Michel Crozier.

REVUE FRANCAISE DE GESTION, June 1999, vol. n° 124, pp. pp 100-109 10 p

Textbook

1999

ROUACH, D.

Management du transfert de technologie

1999, Gestion, Paris, France

Book

1999

MENDOZA, C., P.-L. BESCOS

Manager cherche information utile désespérément

Economiques, Paris, France, 1999

Published Case Study

1999

ROUACH, D.

Managing technology transfer and innovation: the Nestlé / Nestec experience

1999, Centrale de Cas et de Médias Pédagogiques, France

Edited Book / Textbook

1999

DAYAN, A., A. BURLAUD, F. FRERY, S. MACE, C. SIMON, C. THIBIERGE

Manuel de gestion

Universités francophones, Paris, France, 1999