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

2019

JACK, L., O. SAULPIC

How qualitative research can infuse teaching in accounting

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT, 2019, vol. 16 (4), pp. 457-462

Edited Special Issue

2019

SAULPIC, O.

How Qualitative Research Can Infuse Teaching in Accounting

2019, QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN ACCOUNTING AND MANAGEMENT

Journal Article

2019

PARE, J. -L., D. NAJAR

How to evaluate startups and SMEs? A study of French analysts’ IPO reports

REVUE DE L'ENTREPRENEURIAT, 2019, vol. 18 (2), pp. 61-93

Journal Article

2019

LAMY, E.

How to make social entrepreneurship sustainable? A diagnosis and a few elements of a response

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS, 2019, vol. 155 (3), pp. 645–662

Journal Article

2019

MURATBEKOVA-TOURON, M., T. UMBETALIJEVA

Human Resource Management Patterns of (Anti) Corruption Mechanisms within Informal Networks

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL ETHICS JOURNAL, 2019, vol. 38(2), pp. 177-193

Conference Proceedings

2019

CANOVI, M., F. RATTALINO, L. CIRAVEGNA

Identity Activation: How Family Owners’ Social and Personal Identities shape Corporate Entrepreneurship in Family Firms

in 4th International Family Business Research Forum, International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), 2019, Monaco, Monaco

Chapter

2019

VENUTI, F.

IFRS 17 - Insurance Contracts

in IAS/IFRS., Dezzani Flavio, Busso Donatella, Biancone Paolo Pietro Eds, Editore Ipsoa, Gruppo Wolters Kluwer Italia, Milano, 2019

Journal Article

2019

GHIAIE, H., A. NDOYE, J. F. NOAH NDELA NTSAMA, K. ELFAYOUMI, G. AUCLAIR

IMF Selected Issues Paper 18/76

IMF STAFF COUNTRY REPORTS, 2019

Edited Special Issue

2019

SAULPIC, O.

Impact de la recherche en gestionsur les organisations de santé

2019, JOURNAL DE GESTION ET D' ECONOMIE MEDICALES

Journal Article

2019

AVGOUSTAKI, A., H. , T. W. FRANKORT

Implications of work effort and discretion for employee well-being and career-related outcomes: An integrative assessment.

INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW, 2019, vol. 72 (3), pp. 636-661