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.
ESCP Impact Papers
2026
Beyond performance: Pedagogy and assessment in AI-enhanced business simulation games
2026, ESCP Impact Papers
ESCP Impact Papers
2026
Beyond technology adoption: Configuring organizational capabilities for digital transformation
2026, ESCP Impact Papers
ESCP Impact Papers
2026
Beyond the trade-off: Aligning economic growth and low-carbon transition in Europe
2026, ESCP Impact Papers
Chapter
2026
Bifurcation
in Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship Education., Alain Fayolle, Michela Loi, Kati Suomi, Andrew Corbett and Eric Liguori Eds, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026
Journal Article
2026
Bio in, Garbage out? A Review of Paradoxes and Trade-offs in Circular Bioeconomy
BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, 2026
Journal Article
2026
Boss Quality and Employee Work Intensity: Evidence from Europe and the United States
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, 2026
Paper presented in a Conference
2026
Boss Quality and Employee Work Intensity: Evidence from Europe and the United States
in This website was built on Wix. Create yours today.Get Started 9th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Leadership Symposium, 2026, Chania, Greece
Journal Article
2026
Building a Trust Machine: Fidelity Mechanisms in Organizations
ORGANIZATION STUDIES, 2026, vol. 47, no. Trust in Uncertain Times, pp. 419–447
Chapter
2026
Building resilience in a circular economy context
in Decision Making in Value Chains in a Turbulent Era., Kim E. van Oorschot , Albachiara Boffelli , Stefano Elia , and Oliver von Dzengelevski Eds, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026
Book
2026
Business Aesth/ethics: Dialogical Perspectives
Springer, 2026