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 :
13036 publications

Conference Proceedings

2023

GAO, Y., Z. JIANG, K. Y. GOH, H. CHEN

Unlocking the Psychology of Online Travel Booking: How Price Expectations Affect Consumers

in International Conference on Information Systems, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), 2023, Hyderabad, India

Journal Article

2023

DEMBEK, K., F. LÜDEKE-FREUND, F. ROSATI, T. FROESE

Untangling Business Model Outcomes, Impacts and Value

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, 2023, vol. 32 (4), pp. 2296-2311

Review of a book; an article; a research

2023

SHELDON, R., C.

Using Business Model Patterns in Sustainability Entrepreneurship

2023, ENTREPRENDRE ET INNOVER, France

Journal Article

2023

HOANG, C., K. KNOFERLE, L. WARLOP

Using Different Advertising Humor Appeals to Generate Firm-level Warmth and Competence Impressions

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN MARKETING, 2023, vol. 40(4), pp. 741-759

Guest Speaker in a Conference

2023

SOBREPERE, X.

Using Sports Data to Advance Management Theory

2023, Academy of Management (AOM), Boston, United States

Journal Article

2023

COEURDEROY, R., A. SOUAKRI, A. ZACHARAKIS

Valuing failure: An experiment of VC reactions to an entrepreneur’s record of business creation

JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, 2023, vol. 61 (5), pp. 2350-2381

Published Case Study

2023

FORTERRE, D., A. DEHEDIN-DAVID

Victor and Charly: Entrepreneurship and Gastronomy

2023, CCMP, France

ESCP Impact Papers

2023

MACE, S., C. AUBERT HASSOUNI, B. PARGUEL

Violation des données personnelles : pourquoi certains subissent et d’autres agissent ? Le rôle des préférences culturelles

2023, ESCP Impact Papers

Journal Article

2023

BICK, M., M. DARVISH, L. KERESZTYEN

Virtual Immersive Workplaces: The New Norm? – A Qualitative Study on the Impact of VR in the Workplace

LECTURE NOTES IN BUSINESS INFORMATION PROCESSING, 2023, vol. 464, pp. 665–677

Journal Article

2023

GALINDO, G., E. LEON

Visions prospectives de la fonction RH à l’ère de la transformation digitale au travers de la méthode DELPHI

REVUE DE GESTION DES RESSOURCES HUMAINES, 2023, pp. 3-19