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.
Chapter
2008
Idée reçue : l'égalité hommes-femmes aux postes de direction n'est qu'une question de temps
in Petit bréviaire des idées reçues en management., CriM, PEZET A., SPONEM S. (eds), La Découverte, 2008
Chapter
2008
Idée reçue : les salariés sont de plus en plus autonomes dans les entreprises, c'est l'empowerment !
in Petit bréviaire des idées reçues en management., CriM, PEZET A., SPONEM S. (eds), La Découverte, 2008
Paper presented in a Conference
2008
Identity and reflexivity in research on women accountants
in Proceedings of the 2008 Academy of Management Meeting, 2008, Anaheim, United States
Journal Article
2008
IFRS et PME
REVUE FRANCAISE DE COMPTABILITE, December 2008, vol. n° 416, pp. pp. 48-53 6 p.
Chapter
2008
Il finanziamento mezzanino
in Manuale del management Buy Out., Anna Gervasoni Ed., Bancaria Editrice, chap. Manuale del management Buy Out, pp. 100-117, 2008
Journal Article
2008
Impact du cadre légal sur le revenu des actionnaires
FCS REVUE FINANCE CONTROLE STRATEGIE, 2008, vol. Vol. 11, issue 1, pp. pp. 185-223 39 p.
Book
2008
Impacts of competitive scenario changes on the strategic positioning of mutual guarantee banks
Oxford Management Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2008
Chapter
2008
Implementing E-HRM. A structurational approach to investigating technological and organisational change
in Technology, Outsourcing and Transforming HR, Potential, Problems and Guidance for Practitioners., M.GRAEME; M. REDDINGTON; A. HEATHER Ed., Elsevier, 2008
Paper presented in a Conference
2008
Implementing performance dialogue
in Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the European Academy of Management (EURAM), 2008, Ljubljana
Paper presented in a Conference
2008
Importance et sens de la reconnaissance du travail : une comparaison entre salariés jeunes et âgés
in 'Le lien social à l'épreuve des cultures', Actes du XVIIIème Congrès de l'Association Internationale des Sociologues de Langue Française (AISFL), 2008, Istanbul