Improbable Chair by Galeries Lafayette Art Thinking
See this page in
[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.
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
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
- Scientific publications
- Doctoral theses and final dissertations
- Improbable Siesta: seminar bringing together researchers, artists, and experts in creation
- Spreading the Improbable method at ESCP and beyond
- Designing initial training in Art Thinking
- Training Art Thinking instructors
- 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...

Article
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.
Journal Article
2023
Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice in Accounting Education
ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION, 2023, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1-5
Journal Article
2023
Do accounting disclosures help or hinder individual donors’ trust repair after negative events?
ACCOUNTING, AUDITING AND ACCOUNTABILITY JOURNAL, 2023, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 1078-1109
Chapter
2023
Doctorants, n’oubliez pas de travailler votre personal branding !
in Devenir chercheur en management - De la thèse au premier poste., Laroche H.; Schmidt G. Ed., Vuibert, 2023
Conference Proceedings
2023
Doing Good While Saving Money? The Formation of Initial Reputation of a New Social Venture
in Annual Meeting, Academy of Management (AOM), 2023, Boston, United States
Journal Article
2023
Driven by emotions: The moderating effect of socioemotional wealth dimensions on the link between entrepreneurial orientation and innovation performance in family firms
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, 2023, vol. 27 (3-4)
Paper presented in a Conference
2023
Duty to preserve beauty: Explaining the persistence of unique heritage craft in family business
in EGOS, 2023, Italy
Debate; Point of view; Editorial,…
2023
Editorial: Introduction to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Track
2023, LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Edited Special Issue
2023
Editorial: Troubled times demand heroes
2023, MARKETING THEORY, United Kingdom
Contribution on blogs and Social Networks
2023
El éxito de la adopción de la IA requiere una nueva métrica: la tolerancia
2023, MIT Technology Review, Spanish
Published Case Study
2023
Electric Moto-Taxis Innovation in Low Income Countries: A Rider’s Perspective in Kampala
2023, WDI Publishing