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
2016
Face à l'islam radical, des entreprises désarmées
L'EXPRESS, 2016
Journal Article
2016
Faire faire ou faire soi même, quelle option choisir ?
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, 2016
Edited Book / Textbook
2016
Faire parler et faire taire les statues
Ecole Française de Rome, 2016
Journal Article
2016
Family exit in family firms –the influence of networks on the intention to follow the private equity succession route
SCHMALENBACH BUSINESS REVIEW, 2016, vol. 67 (4), pp. 454 - 488
Journal Article
2016
Financial threat during the economic crisis: Connections with the social representation of the economic crisis and the willingness to act
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 2016, vol. 29(1), pp. 112-126
Journal Article
2016
Focus on “Basel III and Bank Liquidity Creation”
BANKERS MARKETS AND INVESTORS, 2016, vol. 143, pp. 46-54
Journal Article
2016
Fonds de dette privée : vers un nouveau paradigme du financement ?
REVUE TRIMESTRIELLE DE DROIT FINANCER, 2016, vol. n° 2, pp. 13-17, 5p.
Journal Article
2016
Food waste and the circular economy: no stinky business
CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW, 2016
Journal Article
2016
Forecasting electricity spot prices using time-series models with a double temporal segmentation
APPLIED ECONOMICS, 2016, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 361-378
Journal Article
2016
Forgiving: The Hidden Dimension in Exceptional Leadership Success
THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS REVIEW, 2016, vol. November 2016