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 :
13030 publications

Journal Article

2025

HAENLEIN, M., S. STÄBLER

The unheard voice of marketing research: Breaking through to news and social media

JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE, 2025, vol. 53 (1), pp. 105 - 128

Journal Article

2025

REICHARDT, A., M. MURAWSKI, M. BICK

The use of the Internet of Things to increase energy efficiency in manufacturing industries

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY SECTOR MANAGEMENT, 2025, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 369-388

Journal Article

2025

PREECE, C., F. KERRIGAN, D. O'REILLY

Theorizing regressive nostalgia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN MARKETING, 2025, vol. 42 (2), pp. 411-432

Journal Article

2025

WIEGMANN, L., A. CONRATH-HARGREAVES, Z. GUO, M. HALL, R. KOBER, R. PUCCI, P. THAMBAR, T. THIAGARAJAH

This Is Not an Experiment: Using Vignettes in Qualitative Accounting Research

ACCOUNTING, AUDITING AND ACCOUNTABILITY JOURNAL, 2025, vol. 38 (1), pp. 418-440

Paper presented in a Conference

2025

LEICH, K., M. FESTING

Thriving as a Globally Mobile Couple on International Assignments

in 17th International Human Resource Management Conference, 2025, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Journal Article

2025

BLONDEL, T., K. ALFES, D. LUP

Thriving for Nothing? The Hidden Costs of Thriving for Employees With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Their Employers

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, 2025, vol. 64 (2), pp. 395-421

Other contribution

2025

SECKLER, C., E. AUTIO, H. BERGLUND

Tools In Entrepreneurship Symposium

2025, ESCP Business School

Paper presented in a Conference

2025

FISAC GARCIA, R., A. GALLIKER

Towards a just transition in island tourism: proposing a hybrid accommodation business model in SIDS

in EuroCHRIE 2025 - Hospitality & Tourism Innovation: Exploring Inspiration Across Industry Lines, 2025, The Hague, Netherlands

ESCP Impact Papers

2025

SCARSO BORIOLI, G., D. SOLA, R. QUAGLIA, A. JORDAN

Towards a Machine-Readable Standard Ontology for Business Strategy

2025, ESCP Impact Papers

Journal Article

2025

TRUNK, J., K. REMKE, C. SECKLER

Trash to Treasure: Design Principles for Developing Cascading and Repurposing Business Models through Systemic Stakeholder Collaboration

PROCEEDINGS OF THE HAWAII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEM SCIENCES (HICSS), 2025, pp. 5020-5030