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 :
13028 publications

Journal Article

2026

ZHANG, L. E., A. SAKA-HELMHOUT

How can MNEs effectively advance disability inclusion?

Forthcoming EUROPEAN MANAGEMENT JOURNAL

Chapter

2026

STELLER, N.

How Chief Purpose Officers Prevent Purpose-Washing by Linking Social Purpose and Strategy

in The Oxford Handbook of Social Purpose., William S Harvey (ed.) et al. Ed., Oxford Handbooks, 2026

Journal Article

2026

MEISTER, A., S. MESTWERDT, M. , J. MROZEWSKI, R. MAUER, C. SECKLER

How do Entrepreneurs form Social Business Opportunity Beliefs? An Opportunity Actualization Perspective

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, 2026, pp. 1-37

Chapter

2026

STELLER, N., N. GILLESPIE

How Do Social Purpose Initiatives Influence Trust? Insights From Chief Purpose Officers

in The Oxford Handbook of Social Purpose., William S Harvey (ed.) et al. Ed., Oxford Handbooks, 2026

Journal Article

2026

ROEDDER, F., S. SCHMID

How Internationalization Leads to more CSR: The Case of Japanese Firms

JOURNAL OF GENERAL MANAGEMENT, 2026, vol. 51 (3), pp. 330–348

Journal Article

2026

OBERHAUSER, M., M. RAPIOR

Human Rights Violations in Global Value Chains: A Locally Grounded Governance Framework

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS, 2026, vol. 203 (1), pp. 27–54

ESCP Impact Papers

2026

PINA, G., H. KHAJEHPOUR

Human, AI, or both? Evidence from a standardized classroom task

2026, ESCP Impact Papers

Paper presented in a Conference

2026

SENANAYAKE, S., P. CHAMAKIOTIS

Identity-based Transition Pathways in GenAI Implementations

in Academy of Management (AOM), 2026, Philadelphia, United States

Contribution on blogs and Social Networks

2026

SECKLER, C.

Im Gespräch mit Prof. Dr. Christoph Seckler: Fehlerkultur vs. Fehlertoleranz und was Unternehmertum wirklich zukunftsfähig macht

2026, sasserathNOW

Journal Article

2026

SAVIN, I., G. PAPACHRISTOS, J. VAN DEN BERGH

Impact of GDP‑anchoring bias on macroeconomic dynamics through consumer and investment behaviour

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC INTERACTION AND COORDINATION, 2026, vol. 21, pp. 507-524