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 :
13042 publications

Journal Article

2020

BÖCKLE, M., J. NOVAK, M. BICK

Exploring gamified persuasive system design for energy saving

JOURNAL OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, 2020, vol. 33(6), pp. 1337-1356 pp.

Paper presented in a Conference

2020

ZILBERBERG, E., C. DAVINO

Exploring the effect of goal orientation theory on identification preferences when using an audience response system

in International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies - connecting technology with education, 2020, Online, Netherlands

Journal Article

2020

BUSSO, D., G. BAIMA, G. SANTORO, R. QUAGLIA

Exploring the outcomes of external revealing of knowledge: a case study in the craft beer industry

BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 2020, vol. Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. pp. 1183-1201

Journal Article

2020

SONTA-DRACZKOWSKA, E., M. , J. MROZEWSKI

Exploring the Role of Project Management in Product Development of New Technology-Based Firms

PROJECT MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 2020, vol. 51 (3), pp. 294-311

Journal Article

2020

XU, T., H. ZHU, H. XIONG, H. , H. ZHONG, E. CHEN

Exploring the Social Learning of Taxi Drivers in Latent Vehicle-to-Vehicle Networks

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MOBILE COMPUTING, 2020, vol. 19 (8), pp. 1804 - 1817

Debate; Point of view; Editorial,…

2020

GETZ, I., L. MARBACHER

Face à la crise, des entreprises réinventent la solidarité et le capitalisme

2020, LE PARISIEN ECONOMIE

Chapter

2020

KRATZER, J., M. , J. MROZEWSKI

Factors fostering creativity in start-up teams

in Creative Success in Teams., Alexander McKay, Roni Reiter-Palmon, James Kaufman Eds, Academic Press, 2020

Conference Proceedings

2020

SYDOW, A., C. DE BERNARDI, L. FERRI

Familiness as Driver for Sustainable Innovation–Evidence from Family Businesses in the Wine Sector

in Broadening our sight, Academy of Management (AOM), 2020, Vancouver, Canada

Journal Article

2020

SECKLER, C.

Fehler als Ressource nutzen – Acht Schritte zur Etablierung eines Fehlermanagement-Mindsets

CHANGEMENT!, 2020, vol. 04/2020

Journal Article

2020

WINANT, P., N. COEURDACIER, H. REY

Financial Integration and Growth in a Risky World

JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS, 2020, vol. 112, pp. 1-21